


Surprise Bitch

by jisungsjheekies



Series: Surprise Bitch [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Comfort/Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2020-12-31 18:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 34,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21149933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisungsjheekies/pseuds/jisungsjheekies
Summary: Meet Haley, a girl who loves dancing and her youtuber brother, Alex. What happens when Alex invites 9 famous boys to surprise his sister in his upcoming video?





	1. Chapter 1

_Word count: 550_

“So this is the youtuber we’re supposed to film with?” asked Minho. The rest of Stray Kids looked at their leader as Chan pulled up another video to show the boys, “Yeah, his channel is called _AisforAlex_.“

While the boys watched the video of Alex reacting to Ateez’s new video _Wave_, Jeongin spoke up, “When are we planning to do this?” Chan replied “We’re supposed to fly to the states on Friday to meet up with him. I’m not entirely sure what he has planned but apparently we’ll be there for 2 weeks."

The other 8 members looked at each other in shock, wondering how JYP allowed for them to be away for so long but didn’t question it.

Meanwhile, Haley was just finishing up recording her new dance cover to _Fancy_ by TWICE when Alex burst into the room. "BITCH do I have some news for you” Alex said before collapsing on the bed. Haley finished drinking her water before she collapsed next to him, “what is it now?”

Alex flipped onto his stomach and faced Haley, “I’m about to become your new favorite person because I have a new video planned out for us next week.” “I swear to god if you make me do another _What’s in my Mouth_ video then i’m moving out” Haley stated while Alex just laughed and promised that it would be a video that she would actually enjoy.

Haley continued to stare at Alex with a questioning look, waiting for him to tell her what the plan was, however Alex just smirked. "You’re gonna have to wait until next week to find out.“ Darting up from the bed to run out of the room. Alex laughed while trying to avoid the pillows Haley threw at him. Once he was safely out of the room, Haley fell back on the bed and yelled loud enough for Alex to hear "YOU KNOW I HATE SURPRISES.” Right away, Alex peeked his head through the door “and that’s exactly why I’m not telling you” before running away again.

Haley just threw her arm over her face and murmured a quiet “bitch”. “I HEARD THAT” Alex immediately yelled while Haley just rolled her eyes.

******

"I’m running to the store. Do you need anything while i’m out?“ Alex asked Haley. Not even responding, she shook her head and went back to watching her show. "Suit yourself” Alex replied back while shutting the door behind him and walking to his car.

What Haley didn’t know was that he was currently on his way to meet up with the 9 boys that they were going to be filming with. After parking his car and walking inside the Wendy’s, Alex ordered food and sat towards the back of the building. Pulling out his phone to let the boys know he was there, Alex proceeded to eat his lunch while he waited. About 10 minutes later, Alex heard footsteps approaching his table.

“So you must be Alex” a voice rang out when Alex lifted his head to see the boys of Stray Kids staring back at him. For a second, Alex admired the boys in front of him as he was also a fan but quickly recovered and offered them a seat. “And you must be wondering what I've got planned.”


	2. Chapter 2

_Word count: 896_

“What’s carpool karaoke?” the youngest of the group asked.

“It’s just karaoke in the car” the leader answered him.

“But we’re going to make it a little more exciting than just singing to some songs” Alex included. “We’re gonna split up into 2 teams. Both teams will compete to sing as many songs as possible. Whoever’s team sings more songs than the other, wins. The loser buys dinner of course”

“How is this going to work?” Felix asked.

“I’ll connect the radios in each car together so that both teams will hear the same music. Several cameras will be set up in both cars, so we have different views of everyone. And everyone will wear a mic and an earpiece, so they’ll be able to hear and be heard.” Alex answered

“This sounds extremely complicated. Will this even work?” Chan wondered.

“I’ve already tested it out and I can assure you that it’ll work. Of course it’s going to be a lot more work to set up for 11 different people, but it can be done.” replied Alex. “But there’s one more thing you need to know.”

All the boys looked at Alex, waiting for him to continue. “My sister is going to be a part of this video, but she doesn’t know anything about it, only that she’s going to be in it too.”

“Is there a reason why she doesn’t know?” Seungmin questioned the youtuber.

“She’s a huge fan of you guys so I wanted to surprise her. I mean I’m a fan too, but this is mainly for her. Plus it’ll be great content for my channel.” Alex looked around at all the boys

“So if she doesn’t know that we’re a part of this too, when is she going to find out?” Chan asked.

“I figured I’d just let her find out when you guys come over to film.” Alex just shrugged his shoulders. “There’s no telling how she’s going to react.”

“This should be interesting.” Changbin stated while they all agreed.

“You knew we were filming today, why didn’t you get this stuff before?” Haley asked her brother.

“Probably because I forgot” Haley just rolled her eyes while Alex continued “It’s only 1 and we’re not filming until 4. We’ve got plenty of time.”

“I still need to get ready–” Alex cut Haley off “Do it when we get back, we won’t be gone for long”

Haley hesitated but eventually agreed. “Grab your keys and let’s go.”’

***

“Can you go grab waters while I grab some mics” Alex asked, already walking to the other side of the store.

Going to collect Alex’s request, Haley searches for snacks, knowing that they were probably going to be hungry while filming.

Walking down the aisle with candy, Haley’s phone begins to ring. “Hello?”

“I’m done. Where are you?”

“I’m grabbing snacks, any more requests?”

“Grab me some Reese’s.”

“Kay. I’ll meet you at checkout” Haley stated before hanging up and heading to meet Alex, grabbing the candy on the way.

Placing the items down, Haley noticed just how much stuff Alex was purchasing. “Why do you have so many mics?”

“They were on sale so I decided to stock up in advance.”

Haley just shrugged her shoulders and waited for Alex to finish paying, before packing the bags in the car and heading back to the apartment.

Unlocking the door, Haley placed the shopping bags on the counter and headed to her room, “I’m going to get ready now.”

Perfect timing.

Alex whipped out his phone and shot a text in the group chat.

Putting his phone on the charger, Alex grabbed all the supplies and prepared the cars for filming. After everything was in place, Alex walked inside to change outfits.

As he headed to the kitchen, he heard a quiet knock on the door. Knowing that it would be the guys, Alex immediately opened the door to usher them inside, trying to be as quiet as possible as to not give away the surprise for Haley.

10 boys stood in the kitchen, not sure what to do now.

“Where is she?” Jisung looked around the apartment.

“She’s getting ready but should be finished soon. Follow me.” Alex led them to sit in the living room. “These are your earpieces and mics. Loop them under your shirt and wait to turn them on when we get in the car.”

Meanwhile, Haley had just finished the final touches on her makeup before she took in her appearance. She was wearing a Stray Kids crop top with Jisung on the back, black ripped skinny jeans, all white converse, and a black choker.

“Something’s missing…” Haley murmured to herself.

Glancing once more at her reflection, she realized what she was missing - a hat. However, the one she wanted wasn’t in the place that she had last seen it.

Then it hit her. Alex had asked last week to wear it because he’d lost his own. Grabbing her phone, she headed out of the room and down the hall towards the living room.

Not even looking up from her phone, she yelled out to Alex, "Have you seen my black hat?“

After getting no response, Haley lifted her head to look for the culprit but instead found 10 pairs of eyes staring at her.

“Surprise bitch."


	3. Chapter 3

_Word count: 1266_

“What the fuck” Haley just stared, mouth agape with wide eyes.

“Watch your language” Alex walked over to cover Jeongin’s ears “there’s children present.”

“You literally just—oh forget it” rolling her eyes, she continued to stand still.

“Guys, meet my sister Haley.” The members greeted back, each waving hello.

“Nice shirt” Chan comments. Completely forgetting her outfit choice, Haley looked down and immediately blushed in embarrassment. Contemplating changing shirts to avoid further teasing, Haley bit her lip.

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t, you look fine” her brother reassured her.

“You look cute” Jisung spoke up, making Haley’s cheeks turn a darker shade of red, if that was even possible.

Snapping out of her trance, she whipped her head to look at Alex “What’s going on?” Flicking her eyes to the group for a brief moment, “Why are they here?”

“It seems you’ve forgotten we have a video to film today”

“Okay and?”

Alex groaned “Dumbass. They’re here to film with us.”

Beginning to panic, Haley turned around to run and lock herself in her room but Alex, being too fast, caught her before she was able to escape.

Due to their actions, it was hard to miss the large printed “JISUNG” on Haley’s shirt. Immediately, the members stared at Jisung who had a smile on his face and red cheeks. If it hadn’t been for Alex dragging Haley back to the room, the boys would have teased Jisung.

Accepting defeat, Haley fell to the floor and sighed, waiting for whatever Alex was going to force her to do.

“Is she okay?” Minho asked.

“She’s just being dramatic”, Alex nodded his head, “so here’s the plan for the video.”

All eyes were on Alex as he explained what would happen. “We’re going to split up into two teams. Five of you will go to my car and four of you in Haley’s car.”

Hearing her name, Haley perked up, “what do we need my car for?”

“We may or may not be filming a carpool karaoke video” Alex waited for Haley’s reaction.

“I think the fuck not”

Grabbing the nearest pillow off the couch, Alex chucked it at Haley’s face to shut her up before continuing. “In BOTH cars, I have cameras, mics, and a monitor setup for us to see the people in the other car.”

“Moron, is that even going to work?” Haley doubted.

“Of course. I’m a genius” Alex proudly stated.

“Yeah right” Haley scoffed.

Alex went to grab another pillow to throw at Haley but she ducked behind the loveseat that Changbin and Felix were sitting on to avoid getting hit again.

All the boys just watched in amusement at the interaction between the two siblings.

“I figured that since Haley and I would be driving, we would let you guys pick which team you wanted to be on.”

Thankful that she wouldn’t have to choose her team, Haley sighed in relief.

Unfortunately her relief didn’t last long after Felix spoke up. “Jisung, you should be on Haley’s team.”

At the mention of his name, Haley ducked down to avoid eye contact with said boy while the rest looked at Jisung who sported bright red cheeks.

“Fine by me. I was going to choose her anyway.”

Haley wished the floor could swallow her up whole right then and there. Could this get any more embarrassing for her?

“I choose Haley!” both Changbin and Seungmin shouted.

Noticing how Alex looked a little disappointed that no one had chose him yet, Felix spoke up “I choose Alex!”

Immediately Alex perked up and Felix gave him a small smile, which Alex returned.

“Me too!” Hyunjin and Jeongin agreed right after.

“If Felix is going with Alex then I’m going with Haley” Chan mentioned.

“Guess that means Minho and Woojin are with me” Alex stated as the remaining two boys high-fived.

“Everyone has their mics and ear pieces except Haley” Alex handed the items to her and continued, “We’re good to go whenever everyone is ready.”

“Wait— how are we supposed to do this” Haley exclaimed while hooking the mic to her shirt.

“Each team has to compete to sing more songs than the other team. Whoever sings first has to sing a minimum of thirty seconds of the song in order to gain a point. By the end of the ride, whichever team has the least amount of points, has to buy the winning team dinner.”

“But—-“ Haley begun but is interrupted by Alex “Everyone has to participate. No buts.” If looks could kill, Alex would be a goner.

Sitting next to Jeongin, Haley pouted and crossed her arms. “It’ll be fun noona, I promise” the maknae reassured her and laid his head on her shoulder.

Haley patted his head and murmured to herself, “yeah yeah okay.”

Jisung watched the interaction between the girl and one of his members, not being able to control the slight pang of jealously he felt in the pit of his stomach. Quickly looking away before they noticed his stare, Jisung spoke again. “What music are we using?”

At this, Alex’s eyes went wide, “Oh shit I almost forgot about that.”

“Of course you did” Haley rolled her eyes.

“Aaaaaaanyway, my plan was to get everyone to make a list of songs, send them to me and i’ll add them to a playlist.” Alex pulled out his phone to begin his list, the others following in his lead.

Twenty five minutes later, with everyone’s list combined, the result ended up being close to 300 songs; a mixture of all genres.

“Can we hurry up and film? I’m ready to play.” Hyunjin whined.

“Is everyone else ready to go?” Alex asked. Immediately nine heads nodded enthusiastically while rushing out the door to the cars. Haley stayed behind for a minute, not ready to accept the fact that this was really happening. Noticing the anxious look on her face, Jisung gently grabbed Haley’s hand, careful not to spook her. “Let’s go kick some ass” Jisung encouraged, which caused a small smile to appear on her face. Still nervous, Haley followed him to the cars.

“You good Hal?” Chan asked the girl.

Opening the door to her car, Haley huffed, plopping into the driver’s seat “Let’s just get this over with.”

The rest of the boys filled the cars one by one. In Haley’s car, Chan called shotgun while Seungmin, Changbin and Jisung sat in the backseat. In Alex’s car, Felix sat in the passenger side with Hyunjin and Jeongin in the middle row and Woojin and Minho in the back row.

After everyone was in place, both drivers rolled down their windows. “Are we supposed to be driving somewhere?” Haley questioned.

“I figured we would just cruise around until we found somewhere to stop.”

“Whatever. You’re leading.”

“Obviously. It’s my plan” Alex comments. “Now just turn all of your equipment on and it should connect to ours.”

Rolling the window back up, Haley did as she was told, watching as the monitor on the dash loaded before the other team appeared on the screen.

“I can’t tell if it’s working or not” Haley announces.

“Tilt the main camera a little to the right. Someone must have bumped it when they got in.” Haley does what he says, “Right there, that’s perfect.”

With a few more adjustments, Alex glanced at the members in his car then at the monitor before speaking up “Are we ready to start?” After getting several yes’s, he gives Haley a thumbs up as they both hit record on the cameras.

“Hey wassup you guys it’s Alex!”


	4. Chapter 4

_Word count: 2959_

“Today I have something exciting planned for you all!” Alex continued his intro while Haley and the boys were ducked down to hide their faces from the cameras. “I may or may not have some special guests here with me. Please say hi guys.”

At this time, Haley and the boys shot their heads up and shouted several hi’s and hello’s.

“You guys all know my little sis, Haley.”

The girl winked and blew a kiss at the camera while Alex gestured towards the rest of his guests. “As for these guys, please introduce yourself.”

Chan counted down from three. “Hello! Step Out, we are Stray Kids!” The nine boys spoke in unison.

“Some of you must be wondering how the hell I managed to get these guys to do a video with us today. Honestly I’m still trying to figure that out myself” Alex laughed to himself. “Well you see, I noticed that Haley had been feeling down recently and I took it upon myself to figure out the best way to cheer her up. I know how much she enjoys making videos with me, but I wanted to kick it up a notch. So I did my research and with a shit ton of begging to their manager, I succeeded in snagging these guys for a short amount of time. Haley is a huge fan of these guys and so I wanted to surprise her. I’ve been planning this for a while, so it’s been extremely hard to hide this from her. Today’s video is not only for you guys, but also for Haley.”

Haley just stared in awe while her brother finished his rant. She had no idea that he had noticed how her mood had dropped recently. Much less, to try and plan something nearly impossible just to make her feel better. As much as she wanted to kill him sometimes, she truly loved her brother and it was clear that the feeling was mutual.

“I’d hug you but you’re in the other car”

Alex just laughed at Haley and said, “That’s okay, Chan can hug you for me.”

Immediately the aussie threw his arms around her and squeezed tightly. “Like this?” Chan smirked while Haley just grunted in response, trying to wiggle free from his death grip.

“He said hug me not kill me” Haley straightened out her shirt while the rest of the boys laughed in response.

Turning back towards the camera, Alex continued, “Considering the guests that we have today, I decided that carpool karaoke would be the perfect fit for this video.” Proceeding to explain the rules, the boys sat back and listened while Haley waited nervously for the game to begin.

“Shall we get this shit started?” Alex asked to anyone. Of course, Felix took it upon himself to reply.

“We shall.” The two fist bumped.

“Alright Haley, I’ve already connected your radio to mine, so I’ll be the one who controls the music. I’m just going to put our playlist on shuffle, and we’ll go from there. You can control the volume but that’s it.” Haley just gave a thumbs up.

“I’ll lead so you just follow me.” Alex looked at the camera, “just so you guys know, we haven’t planned a specific route. We’re just driving to wherever.”

Connecting his phone and pulling up the playlist, Alex double checked everything and everyone before putting the car in drive to get on the road.

However Haley made no effort to move. Too scared for the activity to begin, she snapped out of her trance when Chan waved a hand in front of her face. “You good there?”

“Oh me?” Haley put the car in drive and followed to catch up with Alex. “Yeah i’m good.”

“Remember, loser buys dinner. Winner’s choice.” Alex stated before hitting play.

The first few notes of _Illusion_ by ATEEZ had begun playing before Alex screamed. Despite the song being in Korean, Alex still sang along as much as he could, with his team hyping him up. Of course, earning the first point of the game.

This was certainly going to be an amusing car ride.

Already knowing that Chan was the culprit for the next song, Haley just rolled her eyes as _Old Town Road_ begun playing.

_Yeahhhh_

_I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road_

_I’m gonna ride til I can’t no more_

Chan continued to belt out the lyrics, dancing wildly in the passenger seat, earning odd stares from the passing cars.

One point for Haley’s team.

Songs continued to play one after the other while each team earned more points. Haley knew almost every song but was too afraid to speak up, deciding that humming and nodding her head along would have to do. At one point, _Dance the Night Away_ by TWICE had played and all of Stray Kids broke out in dance, effectively shaking both cars in the process.

Thirty minutes had already passed and almost everyone had participated. While the others would burst into song, Haley stayed quiet as a mouse, hoping and praying that they wouldn’t make her play. She was perfectly content with just being the chauffeur.

Unfortunately, Alex had other plans.

“Hals, you’re going to have to join in at some point or your team automatically loses.”

Haley’s eyes grow wide as her grip tightens on the steering wheel. Frantically shaking her head, “I will literally do anything if you don’t make me do this.”

“I’m sorry but no. Play or your team buys dinner.”

“I’ll buy you a cat.” Haley attempted to bargain.

Alex actually thinks her offer over before quickly shaking his head. “Nice try but it’s still a no. Our apartment doesn’t even allow animals dumbass.”

Feeling defeated, Haley slumped further into her seat knowing it was useless to argue with Alex, who was so determined to torture her.

A couple more songs played, including the boys’ song _District 9_ which had the boys practically screamed the words rather than singing along, before a familiar song begun to play. The beginning notes of GOT7’s _Lullaby_ played out as Hyunjin was preparing to sing along. Singing the first few words in Korean, Hyunjin abruptly stopped after he realized that something wasn’t right.

This wasn’t Korean, it was English.

Alex smirked while looking at Haley through the monitor who appeared like she was about have a mental breakdown.

And he was right. On the inside, Haley was freaking out because Alex knew that she knew the words and he was expecting her to sing. But how could she do that when there were nine other boys present? She’d only end up humiliating herself in front of the people that she admired most. She’d tried so hard to avoid this, but it was clear Alex wasn’t going to allow that. As much as she didn’t want to embarrass herself, she also didn’t want to let her team down, especially since they were already losing.

Stealing a glance at her brother, who was already looking at her, she tightened her grip and took a deep breath before opening her mouth.

_It’s crazy how you can make me_

_Forget what I’ve been doin’_

_Oh it’s a problem and growin’ more and more each day_

_Girl whisper your sweet nothings in my ear_

_Cause every word can speak to my soul_

_It’s outta my control_

At this point, all eyes were on Haley.

Mouths hanging open in shock as they continued to listen. Haley, however, did her best to avoid eye contact with anyone.

_Oh when you say my name_

_It sounds like a song_

_And I’d listen all day long_

_Oh I don’t understand it_

_But I can’t turn it off_

_Baby don’t ever stop_

Haley decided to take a chance and looked to her right. What she didn’t expect was for Chan to have the biggest grin on his face as he watched the girl sing along. Glancing up at the rearview mirror, Seungmin and Changbin watched in amazement while Jisung stared back, eyes full of love. From the other car, the rest of the guys continued to watch in awe. Feeling a bit more confident, Haley sang out the chorus much louder than before.

_Sweet talk to me babe_

_It’s magical_

_Sweet lullaby_

_Oh it’s so hypnotizin’_

_Sweet talk to me babe_

_It’s magical_

_I wanna hear you sing it every night_

_I can’t help this feelin’_

_Like I know your secrets_

_Hope it lasts forever, I want it, I want it_

_Whisperin’ so gently_

_Eyelids getting’ heavy_

_Make it last forever, I want it, I want it_

As the song came to an end, the only sound that could be heard was Haley’s heavy breathing. Beginning to panic, Haley ignored everyone’s stares, waiting for the embarrassment to settle in until someone broke the silence.

“Holy shit” Felix was the first to speak up.

“You mean to tell me this is what we’ve been missing out on this entire car ride?” Chan added.

Haley looked over at Chan confused.

“Haley that was amazing” Seungmin complimented.

“If you think that was good, you should see her dance” Alex blurted out, making Haley’s eyes go wide.

“You can dance?” Minho asked the girl.

“I’m going to kill you” Haley threatened as she attempted to turn the music up louder to block out Alex, but he just paused the music and continued on. “She has a YouTube channel too. She posts dance covers but it’s all anonymous, so no one finds out that it’s her.”

Haley swore to herself that as soon as they got back to the apartment, she would kick his ass. “That was supposed to be between you and I _ONLY_.”

“I really don’t know why you’re so afraid Hals. You’re fucking talented.” Alex encouraged her. “Stop hiding it.”

Haley went to open her mouth to argue back but no words came out. It wasn’t that she wanted to hide her talents. It was that she was too afraid of not being good enough. With posting her covers online, she always hid her face with a mask, so no one knew who she was. She could just be the girl who danced.

“You should show them your cover of _My Pace_.”

At the mention of their song, the boys began shouting. “You know our song?” “Do you know anything else?” “You have to show us.” “Please Haley.”

Haley was about to reject their request but then she looked over at Chan, then at Seungmin, Changbin, and Jisung. Each boy stared back at Haley with literal puppy eyes, begging for her to do it.

What am I supposed to do? Say no? Haley thought to herself before she sighed. “Fine, okay I’ll show you.”

At that, everyone began cheering.

“We should probably get back to the game. Our team is still ahead nine points and we still have a while to drive.” Alex mentioned before hitting play again, the next song beginning.

No one expected what happened next.

Alex should have never forced Haley to sing because no doubt, they would have won. However, now that Haley had broken out of her shell, it was basically over for the other team as she knew just about every song that had played.

_Talk_ by Khalid? One point.

_Boy with Luv_ by BTS? Two points.

_Easier_ by 5 Seconds of Summer? Three points.

_Likey_ by TWICE? Earning her team point after point, Haley’s team quickly caught up to the other team.

Alex was conflicted between being upset because his team was now losing and happy that his sister finally opening herself up to someone other than him. He watched proudly as Haley sang her heart out.

Deciding to step it up a notch, Alex wanted to show the boys one more thing. While being stopped at a stoplight, he pulled up the playlist and looked for a specific song to play next. After finding it, he added it to the queue and waited for the current song to end. “Haley” Alex quickly spoke up and winked at the girl as he gained her attention.

_DDAENG_ by BTS began playing through the speakers as Haley just smirked at Alex, the other boys not aware of what was about to happen. Having done this many times, as this was Alex and Haley’s song, Alex started it off.

_Ilpal ilsam sampal ddaeng_

_U wrong me right jal bwa ddaeng_

_Haggyojong ullyeola brr brr ddaeng_

_Ya ibeon saeng-eun geulleoss-eo neon ddaeng_

Alex continued to rap J-Hope’s part while Haley rapped the background vocals.

_Hibhab? (ddaeng)_

_Rap style? (ddaeng)_

_Gyang laebpeo (ddaeng)_

_Bangtan (ddaeng)_

Haley prepared to take over as Suga’s part was coming up next.

Rapping her heart out, she threw her hands around to add emphasis to the song. All the boys could do was stare in shock and amazement, wondering how the girl was able to rap so easily, especially when it was in a different language. Watching their teammate, Chan, Seungmin, Changbin and Jisung joined in to hype the girl up, only adding to the excitement.

As RM’s part begun, Alex and Haley rapped together, alternating between lines as they rapped back and forth to each other. The other boys quieted down as they switched between watching the siblings. It was obvious to anyone that they did this quite often with the two already knowing who would sing which part.

The song neared to an end as Haley and Alex attempted to catch their breath.

“Which team gets that point?” Felix wondered as everyone just looked at each other.

“Well considering I set that up, we just won’t count it.” Alex responds as the playlist resumes back to normal. “We’re tied for points now. How about we just do five more songs? It’s getting close to dinner time and I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving.” Deciding that it was a good plan, everyone became more determined to win, not wanting to have to buy food for the other.

With just five songs left, Alex was the first to steal the point for BTS’s _Mic Drop Remix_, putting his team in the lead again.

As the next song played, Chan, Changbin, and Jisung perked up instantly when they heard _ZONE_, a 3RACHA song. Jisung beginning with his part, Chan prepared to sing his part but was quickly interrupted by Haley.

_I look up ahead, nobody, nobody can’t stop me_

_I’ll show you the way so follow my, follow my lead, ayy_

_Joining in with Haley, Chan finished his part as the chorus neared, Haley and the boys bounced to the song._

_Can’t you see I’m in my zone_

The song came to an end as the three boys high-fived Haley, “Another point for us.”

_Beautiful_ by Crush played next as Woojin stole the third point. If she wasn’t driving, Haley would’ve closed her eyes so she could focus solely on the boy’s soothing voice. Both cars had calmed down due to the slow song and Woojin’s soft voice.

However that didn’t last long as the song switched to DAY6’s _Shoot Me_, immediately Seungmin turned full fanboy as he shouted every word and danced along wildly, making Changbin try to move as far away from the boy as possible in order to avoid getting hit. Fourth point going to Haley’s team.

With only one song left, both teams were tied with twenty-nine points. Everyone waited anxiously for the final song to play, wondering who would be the one to steal the last point.

The moment she heard the opening chords of _Dimple_ by BTS, Haley stole a quick glance at the others, noticing that Minho was about to sing. Not on my watch she thought to herself before beating Minho to it.

While all eyes were on her, Haley continued to sing, trying her best not to stumble over the words. Thirty seconds had passed, effectively earning the last point and making her team win the game, but Haley continued to sing. Dimple was one of her favorite songs simply because of Jungkook’s high note at the end of the song and damn if she wasn’t going to sing the entire song.

Soon enough, the bridge began and Jungkook’s high note was up next. Taking a deep breath, Haley sang along, hitting the note perfectly, making everyone, even Alex, go wide-eyed at the girl. A little in shock herself, Haley grinned brightly as the song came to an end.

Then the cheering begun. “I can’t believe we won!” Jisung shouted.

“If it wasn’t for Haley, we wouldn’t have been able to.” Chan nudged the girl’s shoulder.

“Pretty sure it’s the other way around. You guys did most of the work.” Haley explained.

“I nearly lost it when you started rapping _ZONE_ with us.” Both Jisung and Chan agreed with Changbin, causing Haley’s cheek to turn deep red.

“Guys” Seungmin interrupted his teammates. “You’re forgetting that they have to buy us dinner now.”

At the mention of food, everyone went silent.

“Where should we go?” Woojin asked.

“I saw a restaurant about 10 minutes ago. I think it was called Paradise Wings?” Jeongin mentioned.

“No. Absolutely not.” Haley quickly shuts down the idea.

“Why not?” Minho wondered.

“I’d rather not eat at the same place that I work at.”

“You work at Paradise Wings?” Changbin asked the girl.

“She’s been waitressing there for 2 years.” Alex added.

“I think Haley should be the one who chooses.” Jisung announces, “considering she won.”

About to argue with the boy, Alex interrupts Haley before she gets the chance. “If we’re letting her choose then I already know what she wants.”

Nine heads turn towards Alex, “and that is?” Felix asked the boy.

“_Korean barbeque_” Alex and Haley said in unison.


	5. Chapter 5

_Word count: 1448_

“Table for eleven please.” Right away, the group was led to a table secluded in the back, out of sight from any other customers.

After all the drinks were ordered, Haley excused herself to the restroom. “If the waitress comes back to take our order when I’m gone, just tell her—.”

“I know I know. You want bulgogi. That’s all you ever want.”

“Because it’s the best. Thank you.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t forget to wash your hands” Alex waved her off as Haley continued her way to the restroom.

“Okay now that she’s gone” Alex pulled his phone out and pulled up YouTube, “here is the cover she posted yesterday.”

All nine boys gathered around the phone, watching Haley dance to _Fancy_ by TWICE.

“You weren’t kidding. She can really dance.” Hyunjin watched the video amazed.

Because their eyes were all glued to the phone, no one noticed Haley walk back to the table.

“Whatcha watching?” Haley tried to look as well before Alex panicked and dropped his phone. “Nothing” “You” Alex and Changbin spoke at the same time, making Alex literally facepalm.

Haley nearly choked on air. “What do you mean ‘me’?”

Felix grabbed the phone from where Alex dropped it to show what they had been watching before Haley walked in on them. “You really are a great dancer.”

“No I—” “Yes you are. End of story” Alex interrupted his sister.

“Well in that case, thank you.”

“Will you show us your cover of our song?” Chan looked at the girl with hopeful eyes.

“Which song?”

“You know more than one?!?!” Felix nearly screamed, probably scaring the rest of the restaurant.

Haley threw her head back and groaned. “And I oop—” Alex snickered at the girl. Rubbing her hands over her face, she replied back, “I—I may know a few songs.”

“You gotta show us. Please.” Felix begged the girl.

“Maybe” Haley winked at the boy. Before Felix could react, the waitress returned with their orders, everyone going silent at the sight of food. Throwing the first entree on the grill, Jisung spoke up, “Which songs of ours do you know?”

“_My Pace, MIROH, Get Cool, Spread My Wings, _and_ Insomnia_” Haley racked her brain to see if she was forgetting any other songs.

“What about our new song, _Side Effects_?” Jisung curiously asked. Haley just shook her head, “I haven’t had the chance to learn it yet but I want to soon.”

“We can teach you!!” Hyunjin shouted across the table causing Woojin to smack his arm to quiet him down.

“You guys must be busy. I couldn’t let you do that.” Haley tried to refuse.

“That’s actually a good idea. We’d love to teach it to you if you do something for us in return.” Chan looked between Haley and the members.

Haley quirked an eyebrow up and leaned back in her chair, “I’m listening.”

“We’ll teach you the choreography to Side Effects if you show us your cover of our songs.” Chan negotiated. Haley bit her lip, thinking the offer over before nodding her head. “If you’re really willing to do this then sure, why not.” Chan grinned at the girl, who smiled back at him, as the members cheered.

The rest of dinner was filled with quiet conversation as they finished all of the food. After Alex and Haley paid the check, which the boys tried to argue about but gave up once they realized that the siblings would never give, eventually agreeing on the boys paying next time, they headed back to the cars.

“If you guys don’t have anything planned tonight, Haley and I always have movie night on Fridays and you’re all welcome to join.” Alex looked at Haley who just nodded.

Looking between each other, all the members nodded. “We’d love to.”

*****

“Disney or Marvel?” Alex asked the group.

Everyone begun shouting different options. Jeongin, Felix, Seungmin, Hyunjin, and Minho all shout Disney as Alex, Woojin, Changbin, Chan, and Jisung shout Marvel. All heads turn to Haley, who stood quietly in the kitchen.

“What do you want to watch?” Jisung asked.

After staring at Jisung for a minute, she looked over at Alex and quietly asked, “Can we watch Avengers?”

“Already one step ahead of you” Alex stated as he pulled the movie up and pressed play.

As everyone got situated in their spots around the living room, Haley prepared the popcorn and drinks. Pouring the last bag into a bowl, she brought the snacks to the boys and realized that every seat was taken.

Well, every seat except the one next to Jisung, who sat alone on the loveseat. Sensing her stare, Jisung looked at Haley and patted the empty spot next to him. Haley walked over and sat down as Jisung offered her some popcorn, smiling at him as he smiled back before turning to watch the movie.

Next to them sat Alex, Felix, Changbin, and Woojin on the couch, Minho and Hyunjin sat on the loveseat opposite of them, and Chan, Seungmin and Jeongin sat on the floor in front of the tv. Jisung looked at the rest of the guys and stopped when he noticed that Chan was already staring back. Wiggling his eyebrows at Jisung and laughing after Jisung turned away immediately with deep red cheeks. Noticing Jisung’s reaction, Haley looked to see what caused it, making eye contact with Chan, his eyes widening and looking away to avoid eye contact. Turning her head away from the suspicious boy, she continued to watch the movie.

Halfway through the movie, a couple of the boys had fallen asleep. Felix laid with his head on Alex’s shoulder, Jeongin laid face down on the floor, while Hyunjin and Minho were sprawled out across each other. Those that were still awake continued to watch the movie. Feeling movement next to her, Haley looked at Jisung who was shivering from the cold. Debating if she should make a move or not, Haley tapped Jisung on the thigh. Slightly startled, Jisung glanced over at Haley who held up her blanket as an offering. Moving closer together, Haley threw the blanket over his legs and went back to watching the movie. After getting comfortable again, Jisung stole a glance at Haley whose cheeks were slightly blushed, as a small smile adorned her face.

Not even ten minutes later, Haley began to feel uncomfortable, shifting every few seconds for a better position.

“_Haley._”

Turning towards Jisung, her face fell immediately, “I’m sorry.”

“Come here” Jisung opened his arms.

“Are you sure?” Haley hesitated, worry etched on to her face.

“Positive” Smiling at the girl, Jisung allowed for Haley to crawl into his arms to get comfortable. Once she stopped moving, Jisung spoke up again, “Better?” Haley lifted her head from his chest and looked into his eyes, “much better”, before smiling and laying her head back down.

Sensing someone looking at him, Jisung turned his head to see that everyone was watching the interaction between the two on the loveseat. Looking away, Jisung wrapped his arms tighter around Haley, who just snuggled further into his chest.

By the time the ending credits rolled across the screen, the only ones still awake were Alex, Chan, and Woojin. Alex shifted Felix’s head to Changbin’s shoulder and stood from the couch. “You guys are more than welcome to stay if you’d like.”

“Thank you for the offer but we should probably head back to our place. We’ll take you up on that offer next time for sure.” Chan smiled before him and Woojin begun to wake up the members. Waking them up one by one, Jisung was the last to wake up. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked up at Chan then everyone else before looking down at the sleeping girl in his arms.

“Don’t wake her. I’ll put her to bed” Alex unwraps Haley’s arms from around Jisung and lifts her into his arms, carrying her bridal style to her room. After tucking her into bed, Alex returned to the living room as the boys grabbed their things.

“I really appreciate you guys doing this for me and Haley today. It means a lot, especially to her.”

“Thanks for letting us join you guys. We should do more videos like that.” All the guys happily agree with Felix.

“If you and Haley are free tomorrow, let’s hang out again.” Seungmin offered.

Alex nodded his head as the rest of the boys got ready to leave. “Text us tomorrow” Chan said before waving goodbye, the other boys following in his lead. Waving back, Alex shuts the door and heads for his own bed, ready to crash after a long day.


	6. Chapter 6

_Word count: 1477_

The sun beamed brightly through the open curtains, shining right into Haley’s eyes. The girl groaned as she pulled the blanket to cover her face. Debating if she wanted to go back to sleep or not, she reached blindly for her phone on the side table, noticing that it was already 11am. Guess I should get up she thought to herself before tossing the blankets to the side. Standing from the bed, Haley stretched her tired limbs before walking to the kitchen.

“It’s about damn time you woke up” Haley looked up startled at Alex and rubbed her eyes.

“How are you awake before me?”

“The guys texted me about an hour ago, but I told them you were still sleeping.”

“Why did they text you?”

“They wanted to hang out today.”

“Again?”

“Yes again” Alex rolled his eyes “Why do you sound like you’re complaining? This is Stray Kids we’re talking about here.”

“I’m not, it’s just that I had plans to go to the studio today.”

“Even better. We can come too.”

Haley opened her mouth to argue but quickly shut it as she decided that this would be a good opportunity to learn more choreography with the guys.

“Tell them to meet us there. I’m going to get my things together then we can go.” Haley headed back to her room as Alex grabbed his phone to notify the boys of their plan.

  
After reading Chan’s text, Haley locked her phone and tossed it into her bag before smoothing out her outfit. She wore grey leggings, a black crop top, and black sneakers. Once she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and put on a black baseball hat, she grabbed her bag and headed back to the kitchen to meet Alex, who had also changed into an all-black outfit consisting of joggers, a t-shirt, sneakers and bucket hat.

“We should really invest in some brighter clothes” Alex suggests. The siblings stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. “As if we’d ever do that” Haley playfully slapped the back of Alex’s head before grabbing her keys and heading to the car, Alex following after.

Driving to the studio, Haley’s palms began to sweat as she grew anxious. She had faced her first obstacle when it came to singing in front of someone other than Alex. Now she was expected to dance too. Granted, they had already seen one of her covers, but this was different. This time she’d have a live audience. This time she’d have to dance to one of their songs in front of THEM. As if that wasn’t already enough pressure. Haley admired those boys and she was terrified that she’d only disappoint them with her skills. Maybe she could cancel their plans. Just say she wasn’t feeling too well. Maybe…

“Hello. Earth to Haley” Alex waved a hand in front of Haley’s face before exiting the car. “We’re here, get out of the car.” Haley just blinked at Alex before she looked at her surroundings and realized that they were, in fact at the studio. Grabbing her bag from the backseat, she followed Alex through the building until they reached the last door down the hall, their usual room. Sorting through the bag, Haley found her phone and connected it to the speakers. Just as she reached for her water bottle, a knock sounded on the door. “Come in” Alex shouted before grabbing the bottle from Haley’s hands.

The studio door opened and in walked the boys. A very energetic Felix pushed past the group to jump on Alex, nearly knocking him down.

“Sup guys. Glad you were able to come.” Alex threw his arm across Felix’s shoulder while giving each boy a fist bump.

“Thanks for inviting us.” Jeongin spoke up from behind Chan.

“It was actually Haley’s idea.” At the mention of her name, all heads turned towards the girl who froze in the middle of drinking water, eyes wide as she looked at the guys.

Putting the bottle back down, Haley shyly picked at her nails. “Alex said y’all wanted to hang out and I had plans to come here today so I figured why not. I could show you the covers like you asked.”

“You’re really going to show us?” Chan asked with hopeful eyes.

“Well yeah, if you still want me to.”

“YES” The nine of them shouted in unison, making Haley jump in shock.

“Take your time though. We don’t want you to feel rushed.” Chan reassured her.

“I need to stretch then I’ll show you some things.” Haley walked away from the group to stretch as the boys fell into conversation with Alex.

Fifteen minutes later, Haley adjusted her hat before walking over to where her phone was connected. “You ready?”

Heads nodded as they each found seats on the floor, giving Haley plenty of room to dance. “I thought I’d show you different songs, not just yours, if that’s okay.”

“Of course that’s okay.” Jisung smiled at the girl who pressed play on the first song.

Getting into position, _FANCY_ began to play as Haley moved with ease to the song. Afterwards, she danced along to GOT7’s _Lullaby_, BTS’s _FIRE_, The Boyz’s _GIDDY UP_, and a couple other songs before she decided that she was comfortable enough to perform their songs. As _MIROH_ begun to play, Haley quickly turned to look at the boys, “It’s not perfect so please don’t judge”, she said before turning back to the front and dancing effortlessly. Everyone’s eyes stayed glued to the girl as she continued to dance along to more of their songs.

“I saved this one for last because it’s my favorite” Haley pointed at Hyunjin, whose eyes went wide, “your part is my favorite.”

The room grew silent as they waited for the song to start. As soon as _My Pace_ began to play, all jaws dropped as Haley lost herself into the dance, completely forgetting everything around her as she focused on the music. All the boys could do was watch in awe as the girl danced along, because damn was she good. Most of the boys’ jaws dropped at this point, Jisung almost to the point of literally drooling if you gave him just a little bit longer. He watched the girl, thinking to himself how she danced better to their song than he did.

Just as Hyunjin’s verse begun, they understood exactly why it was the girl’s favorite part. The more she moved, the more focused she became. With a devilish smirk and one eyebrow raised, she made eye contact with Jisung, rocking her hips from side to side. Biting her lip as the verse ended, she looked away and continued with the dance, making a certain boy very flustered.

As the song ended, Haley stared at her reflection in the mirror, out of breath and dripping with sweat. Moving her eyes to look at the boys who sat behind her through the mirror, she grew worried as no one spoke.

“Was it that bad?” Haley asked cautiously as she reached for her towel.

“BAD? DUDE THAT WAS BETTER THAN US” They all began to yell at the girl who frantically shook her head, trying to deny their compliments. “You could be the next member of the dance line.” At that, Haley actually laughed, “Don’t be dramatic.”

Running up to the girl, Felix grabbed her and lifted her into the air, “Dramatic? Me? Never!” Haley laughed so hard that her stomach begun to hurt, “Felix put me down! I’m sweaty!”

Giving her a tight squeeze, he proceeded to put her down as the rest of the guys walked up to them, Hyunjin throwing an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “He was telling the truth, you really could be apart of our group.”

Haley covered her face with her hands as she begun to grow shy, murmuring a quiet “thank you” before Hyunjin pulled her hands away, revealing her red cheeks. Jisung grabbed Haley’s water and handed it to her, who thanked him with a smile. Downing the entire bottle, she sat against the wall, “Alright I held up my end of the deal, now it’s your turn.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to mention that” Chan spoke excitedly, “Considering there’s nine of us, only a few of us would stay to teach you.” He turned to look at Alex, “and I figured the rest of us could go do something with you while they were busy.”

“I’d be okay with that if you are” Alex looked over at Haley, who nodded her head.

“Who’s going to teach me?” Haley glanced around at the boys. Right away hands raised into the air. “We are” Felix, Hyunjin, Minho, and Jisung announced in unison.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Haley bolted up, “I have a dance to learn.”


	7. Chapter 7

_Word count: 1509_

“Where did all this enthusiasm come from?” Alex stared at the girl as if she’d grown two heads. “I wanna dance” she shrugged her shoulders then proceeded to bounce on her heels, waiting to learn. “What are you guys going to do?”

“Do you guys mind if we go to the mall? I really need some new shirts” Alex asked the group.

“Sure, as long as there’s somewhere for me to eat” Chan patted his stomach.

“We literally just ate dude.” Minho questioned.

“And your point is?” Chan deadpanned at Minho, who just threw his hands up in defense.

“Shopping and food, got it. Now leave please” Haley attempted to shoo them out.

“Damn we’re going okay.” Alex bickered back, gathering his things in the process before the girl grew more impatient. “Good luck with her today” Alex shouted as he ran through the door, avoiding the empty water bottle she threw at him in the process. “Bye guys, have fun.” Chan announced as the rest of them left, leaving Felix, Hyunjin, Minho and Jisung with Haley.

“Would you like for us to run through it once before we start?” Minho spoke first.

“Sure, if you guys don’t mind” Haley sauntered over to where her phone laid, searching for the music before pressing play. Sitting towards the back, against the wall. The four boys immediately falling into position. Watching intently, Haley flicked her eyes back and forth between each boy, trying her best to memorize even the smallest movements. As the song came to an end, the boys appeared perfectly normal, having done this many times.

Clapping her hands, Haley smiled at the boys who playfully bowed. “Who’s part are you interested in learning?” Minho questioned.

“Seungmin’s” Haley replied immediately, making the boys chuckle in response.

“Alright. Whenever you’re ready.” Without hesitation, Haley moved to the center on the group, waiting for instructions.

Thirty five minutes into the lesson, Haley had successfully learned up until the second pre-chorus with Changbin’s rap. “You learn faster than I had expected” Hyunjin exclaimed as the guys took a water break. Haley remained where she was, running through the beginning of the dance once again. “You should drink some water Haley” Jisung suggested, watching the girl practice repeatedly. “I’m okay, I had some earlier” she brushed off the boy, who saw straight through her lie but decided not to press on the topic further. Moving back into the lesson, it was time for Changbin’s verse.

“You have to move your arms like this” Hyunjin demonstrated the motion for Haley to mimic. Repeating the move over and over, Haley struggled with matching the movements of her arms with her feet. “It’s okay Haley, I wasn’t able to get it at first either” Jisung tried to comfort the girl, who clearly looked distressed, “Why don’t we take a short break?” Again, Haley brushed off Jisung’s words as she continued to repeat the motions, determined to get them right. All the boys could do was watch as the girl refused to listen to their advice, deciding to keep a close eye on her. With sweat dripping down her face, Haley began to grow hot as her head felt fuzzy but she pushed the feelings to the side and continued to dance. Finally getting the first move right, the next move proved to be much more difficult for Haley as the boys demonstrated how to move her head along with her body. Mimicking the movement once, the boys missed as Haley stumbled when she slung her head around. However as she proceeded to repeat the motion, Haley moved her head just a little too quickly. Her body began to feel heavy and her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest at any moment. She tried to speak but her mouth wouldn’t open. Jisung watched her as if it happened in slow motion. “Haley!” was all the girl heard before darkness consumed her. The boys rushed to her side as Haley collapsed into Jisung’s arms.

“Haley! Haley wake up!!” Jisung panicked as the girl remained unconscious in his lap, looking up at the others, “Guys what do I do?”

“I don’t know” Felix said terrified, looking at the other two for options. “We need to call Alex” Minho ripped his phone out of his pocket, dialing Alex’s number before putting it on speaker.

“Pick up Alex, PICK UP!” Jisung shouted after it rang a couple times. Just as Minho went to hang up so he could try again, Alex answered, “Hey guys what’s—”

“Help. It’s Haley.” Felix shouted frantically. On the other side of the phone, Alex paled as he heard Felix. “What happened? Is she okay? Let me speak to her.” Alex panicked, catching the attention of the guys around him, who listened intently. “We don’t know. One second she’s dancing, the next she’s falling to the floor. She’s not waking up.” Felix explained, growing more worried over the situation. “Put her on the couch, lay a cold towel on her head, and I’ll be there in 10 minutes. If she wakes up, give her water.” Alex ended the call as he hurried to his car with the guys in tow.

Doing what Alex said, Jisung carefully lifted the girl in his arms and carried her to the couch, laying her down gently with a pillow tucked under her head. Hyunjin ran to get a cold towel and placed it on her forehead as they all sat around the couch, waiting for her to wake up. Jisung refused to take his eyes off the girl, looking for any signs of consciousness. Ten minutes had passed when Alex and the rest of the members burst through the studio doors. When his eyes landed on his sister, he rushed over, checking her for any signs of harm, noticing how pale she had become. Unsure of how long it would be until she would wake up, Alex began to gather her things. “We need to get her back home so that she can be more comfortable when she wakes. Would one of you mind riding with me to sit with her in the backseat?”

“I will” Jisung was quick to offer, still keeping his eyes on the girl. “I’ll go too” Felix nodded his head towards the rest of the group, “you guys meet us there.”

Alex looked at Jisung, “can you carry her for me?”, the boy nodded his head as a reply, already reaching to grab the girl. Alex headed to the car, Jisung carrying Haley bridal style as he followed behind. Throwing her bag in the trunk, Alex got into the driver’s seat while Felix got into the passenger side. Jisung laid Haley in the backseat, sliding in next to her to lay her head in his lap for more comfort. The other guys got into their car and followed Alex home.

As they drove home, Alex glanced back into the mirror to see Jisung watching over Haley, adjusting her every time he turned a corner or hit a bump to make sure she remained comfortable. The moment they parked the cars, Alex grabbed the bag from the trunk and led the boys to the apartment, Jisung carrying the girl once again. Safely inside the apartment, Alex turned to the boys “we should probably lay her in bed but someone will need to stay with her.” The rest of the boys looked at Jisung expectedly, “I’ll stay with her if you don’t mind.” “Thank you” Alex led them down the hall, “this is her room.”

Walking into the room, Jisung headed straight for the bed to gently lay her down. Alex helped the boy by stacking pillows behind her head as he tucked her comfortably under the covers. “Are you sure you’re okay with watching her?” Alex questioned again. “Absolutely” Jisung reassured him. Taking one last look at Haley, he turned to Jisung, “Holler if you need anything”, before shutting the door behind him.

Glancing over at the unconscious girl, he readjusted the pillows just in case. Unsure of what to do while he waited, he gazed around the room, noticing how much it revealed Haley’s personality. On one side of the room, her bed covered in all black with lots of pillows. Next to the bed was a small table with a photo of her with Alex on it, smiling brightly at the camera. Across the room was a desk which displayed more photos of her with Alex, a computer and camera equipment, which Jisung assumed was for her dance covers. Next to the desk was a small bookshelf which accompanied many books and albums. Of those albums, she owned many Stray Kids albums. Jisung flicked through the stack, realizing that she had every version of every album, wondering just how much money she’s spent because of them. Flicking through the rest of the collection, Haley began to stir in bed. Feeling extremely weak, she forced her eyes open as she blinked repeatedly, taking in her surroundings, noticing that someone accompanied her.

“Jisung?”


	8. Chapter 8

_Word count: 1986_

“Jisung” Haley croaked. The boy jumped as he wasn’t expecting to hear his name being called. Turning around quickly, he looked at Haley, who’d finally awaken. Rushing over to the bed, he sat on the edge “Are you okay? You scared me—I mean us, you scared us” he attempted to correct himself before she caught on to what he said. “I don’t know” she tried to say but her throat was dry, making Jisung hand her the water from beside her bed. She thanked him quietly before downing all of it, feeling slightly better.

“What happened? Where is everyone?” she racked her brain but could only remember dancing in the studio last. Jisung only gave her a worried look, “Haley, you passed out in the middle of practice. We had to call Alex and he brought you back home. They’re in the living room.” Before he could stop her, Haley scrambled to get out of bed, almost falling to the ground in the process due to how weak her body was.Thankfully Jisung caught her before it was too late, “Woah woah, you gotta take it easy Haley.” Looking up with pleading eyes, “but I want to see them.” Squatting down, he looked back at her, “then hop on” before lifting her onto his back. Haley wrapped her arms around Jisung’s neck and rested her cheek upon his shoulder as he carried her to the living room. Nobody noticed their presence until Jisung coughed, making Alex’s head turn. “HALEY! You’re awake!” Alex bolted from the couch to run over to the two. “Please don’t be loud, my head still hurts.” Haley shut her eyes as she buried her face into Jisung’s neck, causing goosebumps to rise at the contact on his skin. Apologizing immediately, Alex rubbed a hand across her back “do you wanna sit down?” “Yes please.”

Jisung placed her on the loveseat and moved to sit on the floor, but Haley quickly grabbed his arm making him look at her “sit with me please.” Sitting next to her, he threw an arm across the back of the seat, Haley immediately laying into his side for maximum comfort. Jisung couldn’t deny the increase in his heart rate as the girl cuddled into him. The rest of the guys just watched the interaction, deciding not to press on the topic, more concerned about Haley. “So does anyone wanna explain what happened?” Haley looked around at the guys. “We could ask you the same thing” Alex raised an eyebrow as the girl winced. “I was just tired, that’s all.” Alex scoffed, “Bullshit, I know you’re hiding something because you won’t look at us. Spill.”

Fumbling with her shirt, she mumbled quietly “I kinda haven’t eaten since dinner yesterday.” “I’m sorry, WHAT?” Alex stared bewildered. “Haley you can’t do that to yourself. No wonder you fainted.” She looked up at the group sadly, “I’m sorry. It’s just that…I was extremely nervous about dancing for you guys after Alex suggested that you guys should come along. I didn’t mean to worry anyone.” She looked down feeling ashamed. Jisung brought his hand down to rub along her arm as an attempt to comfort her before moving it back to the back of the chair in order to not make her feel uncomfortable. She was already ill from today’s events, the last thing she needed was to be upset. Jisung decided to speak up, “Just promise us you won’t do that again.”

“I promise.” Haley looked into his eyes, silently thanking him.

“Will you please eat something now?” Alex begged the girl, who nodded her head, “ramen?”

“Chicken flavored please” She smiled at her brother, “and a coke.” Throwing her a thumbs up, he proceeded to prepare the meal for Haley as the boys hung out with her in the living room.

“Haley can I ask you something?” Chan hesitated.

“Of course.”

“Does this happen often?” Jisung felt Haley tense, ready to tell her she didn’t have to answer, before Haley opened her mouth. “I’ve skipped meals before but this is the first time I’ve fainted because of it.”

Seeing their disappointed looks, Haley sunk further into her seat, “I know it’s not healthy. I need to work on doing better, but it’s hard sometimes.” Chan gave the girl a sympathetic look, “Love, no one is judging you. We’re not one to talk considering how we don’t always take care of ourselves like we should. So we understand how difficult it is. That’s why we have each other to help take care of us whenever we aren’t in the right state to do it on our own. Lucky for you, you have nine more people who are here to do that for you.” Feeling overwhelmed with love, Haley’s eyes began tearing up, “Thank you” and as she sniffled, the boys ran to embrace her into a group hug, making her laugh as she wiped away any spilled tears.

“Um what’s going on?” Alex walked back into the room, looking very confused as he held a bowl of ramen in one hand and a coke in the other. Looking between Alex and the guys, Haley just shrugged “to be honest, I don’t really know.” Alex handed Haley her food and drink before sitting down on the couch, “um okay …moving on. Do you want to watch something?” Haley nodded and smiled as she watched him press play on her favorite anime, Soul Eater. As she ate her food, she and the others watched happily as they cuddled up either on the floor, couch or loveseats. Feeling a little more brave, Jisung pulled Haley closer to him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, making the girl nuzzle even further into his side, if that was even possible.

Two hours had passed as Alex looked at his phone, realizing that it was past 8 o’clock. Pausing the show, all heads turned to him, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m hungry.”

“Oh thank god, I thought nobody would ever say anything.” Chan melted in relief.

“Anywhere specific y’all want to go?” Alex asked the group.

“Mcdonalds” Haley suggested.

“Let me guess. Because you want chicken nuggets?” Alex smirked. Haley sheepishly smiled in return. “That okay with you guys?”

“I’m down for chicken” Woojin clapped enthusiastically. Chan just groaned, “I don’t care as long as I have food in front of me in the next fifteen minutes.”

“Well it’s a good thing Mcdonalds is only five minutes away.” Everyone gathered into cars, with Alex driving one with Felix, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Minho as Chan drove the other with Haley, Jisung, Woojin, Jeongin and Changbin. Following Alex there, Chan began playing music, catching everyone’s attention in the car. “This is my favorite song” Haley announced as she sang along to _19_. Jisung’s heart swelled at her confession about his song, proud of himself. They pulled into the parking lot of McDonald’s, piling out of the cars to head inside. “Order first, we’re paying” Chan declared as he pushed Alex and Haley forward. After all orders were placed, they found seats in the back away from anyone else. Twenty minutes later, an employee shouted Chan’s name as he and Felix walked to the counter to grab all the food. Back at the table, they proceeded to pass out the food. “Which one of you ordered twenty chicken nuggets?” “That would be me” Haley replied sheepishly, as everyone, but Alex, looked at her shocked. “You’re gonna eat all that?” Jeongin questioned. “Um yeah, now can someone hand me my fries?” Haley did grabby hands, waiting for her request to be filled. Chan just looked at her dreamily, “I need me a girl like you.” Haley just winked at him and she started eating.

In the meantime, Jisung felt a pang of jealousy after watching his hyung flirt with the girl. Sulking in his seat, he felt someone nudge his shoulder. Glancing over, Haley stared at him with cheeks full of food, holding a chicken nugget out to him, “want one?” Already forgetting the situation from before, he smiled before grabbing the nugget from her as she smiled as him.

“So I have a request” Haley announced as the group silenced, waiting for her to continue. “Would you guys be willing to record a cover with me?” She peered at them with hopeful eyes.

“Of course. What do you have in mind?”

“I haven’t done_ I am YOU_ yet.”

“Do you know the dance already?” Woojin questioned the girl, who crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back in the chair with a smirk on her face, “of course I do.”

“So when are you wanting to do this?” Changbin wondered.

“Well you’re going to be here for like eleven more days and I work all next week so we’d have to do it after I was done.” At the mention of their soon departure, the atmosphere turned gloomy, not wanting to leave each other. “I wish we could stay longer. We’ve had a lot of fun these past two days, minus the studio incident.” Everyone nodded their heads along with Felix’s statement. “We just have to make the best out of the time we have. Granted you’ll have more time with Alex considering he works from home but I’ll be sure to make time for you guys too.” Haley smiled at the boys as they began to clean their mess before heading back home. In the car, Haley sat between Jisung and Jeongin in the backseat. Conversation bloomed inside the car while Jisung remained somber as he leaned his head against the window, watching the scenery pass by in a blur. Haley noticed the change in his mood, nudging him, he turned his head to look at her. “Are you okay? You seem a little upset.” She looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed. He gave her a small smile that didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes, “Huh? Oh yeah, I’m okay.” Staring at him for a few more moments, she nodded her head before he turned back to the window. Before looking away, she couldn’t help but notice how his face had fallen, hers doing the same. Back at the apartment, Haley and the boys stood next to the cars. “I guess we should head back to our place. We’ll talk to you later” Chan noted, as the others began piling into the car. The two waved goodbye, Jisung catching Haley’s worried stare, giving her a short wave back as he entered the car. Driving away, Haley followed Alex inside the apartment announcing that she was going to bed, Alex doing the same as they bid each other goodnight before heading their separate ways. Changing into shorts and an oversized t-shirt, Haley grabbed her laptop and climbed into bed, pulling up Netflix to watch _The Office_.

Half a season later, Haley finally shut off her laptop when she realized that it was already two in the morning. Thanks to her unintentional slumber after her incident earlier in the day, Haley still didn’t feel ready for bed. Speaking of the incident, she realized she never got the chance to finish learning the choreography with the guys. Her mood dropped as her mind wandered to how Jisung’s mood had changed during the car ride after eating. She may not have known him for very long but she could definitely tell that something was up with the boy. But what could it have been? The girl wondered to herself as she tried to recall the events from the evening, coming up absent-minded. Uneasy with the thought that she might have done something to upset him, she grabbed her phone as she opened her messages. Finding his contact, her finger hovered over the keypad, debating with herself as she remembered how late it was. Willing to take a chance she typed the message before pressing send.


	9. Chapter 9

_Word count: 1314_

A few minutes later, Haley jumped as her phone buzzed. Checking her phone, she saw a message from Jisung. Surprised that he had actually replied, she opened the message before typing a reply.

  
  
Smiling at the conversation, she got out of bed to throw on some leggings and her “Dunder Mifflin” shirt. Grabbing her bag, she opened her door and tiptoed quietly down the hall, careful not to disturb Alex. Locking the door behind her, she quickly got in her car to drive to the studio, giddy at the thought of seeing Jisung. Widening her eyes, she shook her head.

_He’s just a friend Haley. Relax._

Arriving at the studio, she was the only one there as she punched in the security code. She was thankful to the owners who let her do this often as she used to spend countless late nights practicing. Leaving the door unlocked for Jisung, she headed to her room, putting her bag down and connecting her phone. Searching for the song, she pressed play, _Side Effects_ started flowing through the speakers as she began moving through the beginning of the routine.

Immersed in the choreography, she was unaware of the door opening as Jisung leaned against the door frame. He watched the girl repeat the same moves over and over in deep concentration. During one part of the routine, Haley went to turn and she locked eyes with Jisung, almost falling over in fright as she gasped. “You scared the shit out of me.”

Jisung just laughed as he walked closer. “What made you want to practice at two in the morning?”

Haley’s face dropped slightly, “I never got to finish learning the choreography” she hesitated before continuing, “and I wanted to hang out with you.”

Warmth spread through Jisung’s chest as he noticed Haley blushing in embarrassment. “I’m probably not the best person to ask for help with the choreography”, he said, rubbing his neck.

Haley scoffed, “If that was the case then I wouldn’t have texted you at 2am and yet here we are.”

Jisung smiled at the girl, “Okay but you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment.”

Haley just giggled before shoving him playfully, moving to play the music, “You gonna help me or not, squirrel boy?”

Jisung rolled his eyes before moving next to her, running through the missed choreography. He made sure to keep a close watch on the girl, making her take frequent breaks, drink plenty of water and eat a few snacks.

After practicing for nearly three hours, thanks to all the breaks Jisung forced upon her, Haley had finally learned the choreography for_ Side Effects_. “Do you want to run through the whole song by yourself?” Jisung asked as he began to sit down by the mirror, in front of Haley.

“I haven’t done that yet so yeah.” The song began as she moves into position, dancing Seungmin’s parts. Jisung watched Haley closely, as she focused on herself in the mirror. She began to grow nervous as Changbin’s part neared. Worried that she wouldn’t be able to maneuver through the movements as perfectly as she wanted, especially with a pair of eyes watching her. She focused harder, making no mistakes as she continued through the rest of the song. Meanwhile, Jisung watched in awe as the girl danced her heart out, feeling proud to be a part of this moment with her. He felt his heart begin to swell for the girl. He wished he had more time with her rather than a few days. Determined to make the most out of their time together, he watched as she knelt on the ground at the end of the song.

Breathing heavily, Haley looked up to see Jisung staring at her, a strange look on his face. “How was it?” She bit her lip, waiting for the criticism, but opened her mouth in shock when Jisung replied, “Perfect.” Shaking her head, “there’s no way that was perfect. I was sure I had messed up during Hyunjin’s part.”

Jisung stood from his spot by the mirror, walking over to where she was still kneeling. “It was perfect Haley. Please believe me.”

She looked up at him with doe eyes, “Okay” she whispered. At that, Jisung smiled as he reached a hand out to help the girl up, who gladly accepted it, standing up with him. “Thank you Jisung. For everything.”

Without replying, he wrapped his arms around the girl in a warm hug, relieved when he felt her return the affection. “Anything for you, Haley” and at that, he squeezed her a little tighter, making her let out a quiet giggle. His smile grew wider as he released his arms, Haley doing the same as he went to look at the time.

_5:15am._

“Holy shit, we’ve been here all night.” Haley’s eyes doubled in size as Jisung showed her the time, “Oh my god I’m so sorry. I didn’t plan to be here for long.” Haley felt guilty for having the boy out so late when he should’ve been in bed sleeping.

“It’s okay Hal. I’m glad you texted me.”

Haley softened at his comment, “But you’d be sleeping right now if it weren’t for me.”

“If I was sleeping then I wouldn’t have been able to spend time with you. I’d much rather be here right now with you.” Haley blushed furiously and Jisung just stared at her, before looking around the room. something catching his eye. An idea popped into his head, turning back to Haley, he hesitated, “We could take a nap?”

Haley couldn’t tell if she had heard the boy right but he continued to look at her, waiting for an answer. “You wanna take a nap here? Together?”

Jisung already regretted asking now, worried that he had made her uncomfortable. “Well yeah but we don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Suddenly he found his shoes very interesting, trying to avoid looking at the girl’s face, “It’s just that, I figured we should sleep a little before trying to drive home.”

Haley put a hand on his shoulder, making the boy lift his head, “I never said I wouldn’t take a nap with you. I was just asking to make sure I had heard you right.”

Immediately, Jisung’s eyes lit up but he quickly recovered as if butterflies didn’t just erupt in his stomach. “Are you sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Haley had already walked away, digging through her bag. She found a pair of clothes to change into before grabbing the extra clothes she usually kept for Alex, handing them to Jisung. “Yes I’m sure. These are Alex’s. Put them on so you’ll be more comfortable.”

Grabbing the clothes from her, he headed to another room to change before going back to the studio room, seeing that Haley had already changed and was putting blankets and pillows on the couch. “Where did you get those from?”

Haley sat on the couch, “I keep these here for Alex. He likes to nap when I practice.” How convenient, Jisung thought to himself. Haley patted the spot next to her on the couch, “I hope you don’t mind but I’m a cuddler.”

_Welp, there goes those damn butterflies again._

Jisung adjusted himself on the couch next to Haley before opening his arms, “Good thing I am too.”

Haley smiled brightly at the boy’s comment before crawling into his arms. Jisung grabbed the blanket and covered both of them. Haley laid between the couch and Jisung, with her head resting on his chest and an arm thrown across his stomach. Jisung held the girl in his arms, one hand on her back and the other on top of her arm. Haley sighed, sleep beginning to take over, “Goodnight Ji.” Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he listened to her steady breathing.

“Goodnight Hal.”


	10. Chapter 10

_Word count: 2315_

Several hours later, Jisung was awoken by Haley’s movements as she shifted to be more comfortable on his chest. Grabbing his phone that had fallen to the floor some time during their slumber, he turned it on to see that it was currently 11am. Because it had been turned off, moments later his phone began to vibrate, getting message after message from the other members in their group chat. Someone had discovered that he was missing and everyone was freaking out. He typed a quick reply to calm his members.

Muting the chat to ignore all the incoming messages questioning his whereabouts, he dropped the phone on the floor before looking down at his chest. Still, the girl remained in the same position that she had fallen asleep in. He pushed away the stray hairs that laid across her face, tickling her nose in the process. Scrunching her nose up, her eyes began to flutter open. She tilted her head up to look at Jisung, blushing when she caught his stare.

“What time is it?” She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“After 11am.” Eyes going wide, she sat up and grabbed her phone. Seeing that it was, in fact, almost 11:30am, she opened the missed messages from Alex.

  
Deciding she’d text him back later, she locked her phone before turning to Jisung. “Wanna grab something to eat?”

Jisung smiled and nodded his head as he stood, reaching his hand out to help Haley up. “How does pizza sound?” Jisung suggested.

Haley gathered her and Jisung’s things before slipping her shoes on. “I know the perfect place.” They began to exit the studio when Haley noticed that there was only one car in the parking lot, hers.

“Jisung, how did you get here last night?”

He kicked at the rocks on the ground, avoiding eye contact. “I took an uber here.”

Haley gasped at his confession, “That’s even more of a reason as to why you shouldn’t have agreed to come last night.”

Jisung placed a hand on her shoulder, “Like that was gonna stop me from coming to hang out with you.”

Smiling at that, Haley walked to her car, suggesting for him to follow her. “You could’ve asked me for a ride. I wouldn’t have minded.”

As they both got inside the car, Jisung turned to her, “I’ll take you up on that next time.” Haley turned her head away so the boy wouldn’t see her red cheeks. Next time.

Driving to her favorite pizza place, _365 Fresh_, they listened to music in a comfortable silence. Once they arrived and walked inside, they settled on sharing a large pepperoni pizza, making sure to have enough for leftovers for Alex. They found an open booth next to the window while they waited for their order.

“When are you going to record your cover now that you’ve learned the choreography?” Jisung wondered, looking at the girl.

“I hadn’t really thought about that. Maybe tonight.” Haley shrugged her shoulders, looking at the waiter who was bringing their pizza over.

Jisung smiled at the girl who began bouncing excitedly in her seat after they received their food.“When you do, me and the guys would love to come watch for support.” Jisung grabbed a couple slices of pizza.

“I can’t wait to see their reactions when they see that I learned all of it.” Haley grabbed some pizza before winking at Jisung, “all thanks to you.” Luckily for him, she had already dug into the pizza and missed the blush creep up on Jisung’s cheeks. There goes those damn butterflies again.

Silence crept over them again as they ate in peace. It was not until all the pizza was gone, with the except of the little bit Haley sat aside for Alex, did they speak up again. “Do you guys have plans tonight?” Haley asked the boy.

“Not unless you or Alex ask to do something.” Jisung responded, making the girl smile.

“In that case, meet back at the studio around 7.”

“You’re gonna record the video tonight?” Jisung asked hopefully, wanting to see the girl again.

“Might as well do it before I forget the choreography.” Haley shrugged her shoulders as she laughed. Just then, Haley’s phone began to play _Get Cool_, signaling that someone was calling her. Scrambling to answer the call, she ignored Jisung’s smirk as she hid in embarrassment.

“Hello?”

“Where the hell are you?” Alex questioned.

“I am eating pizza with Jisung” Haley looked at the boy, who was already watching her, not breaking eye contact.

“I invited the guys over and he was missing, and so were you.”

“He came with me to the studio last night. I’ll explain later. What are you planning with the guys today?”

“Well WE are filming another video today, which is why I’m calling you because you need to hurry up and get back here so we can do this.”

“I’m not singing any–” Haley begun before Alex interrupted her.

“We’re playing a game, relax. Now come home and bring Jisung with you.”

“Alright we’re leaving now. I’ll see you guys soon.”

“WAIT….. Did you get me any pizza?” Alex asked hopefully.

“Already ahead of you. Bye.”

“Thank you, bye!” Alex cheered before Haley hung up the call and grabbed her things, turning back to Jisung.

“Looks like we’ve got plans after all.” Haley grinned at the boy and grabbed his hand, “let’s go!”

Nearly dragging him out of the building and to the car, Jisung couldn’t deny the disappointment he felt when Haley dropped his hand and proceeded to get inside the vehicle. Cranking up the car, Haley handed him the aux, “play something good.” Just for kicks, he played music by Stray Kids, specifically _Get Cool_. As soon as the song played, Haley deadpanned at him as he snickered. “Ha ha very funny.” Immediately after, the two began to sing and dance along. By the time they arrived at the apartment, Haley and Jisung walked inside to see Alex and the members chasing each other. Jeongin was the first to notice them standing in the doorway. “THEY’RE HERE!” At the announcement of their arrival, everyone came running to the door, nearly tackling the two.

“You two have a lot of explaining to do” Chan lectured, making them look down in shame.

“I’ll explain tonight back at the studio. I promise.” Haley reassured the group before she looked at Alex, “now you need to explain what the hell we’re doing today.”

Alex clapped his hands together, “Ah yes, we’re going to play the whisper challenge for my next video.” Haley shouted in excitement, throwing off the guys.

“I love this game.”

“Yeah but you also suck at it too.” Alex snickered.

“And yet, you’re the one who wants me to play this game.” Haley rolled her eyes.

“Which is why you’re not my partner.” All eyes looked at Alex curiously.

“Who IS her partner?” Chan questioned.

“Felix is her partner.” Both Felix and Haley cheered, high fiving each other. “I’ve chosen everyone’s partners already. I didn’t want to be unfair so I just drew names out of a hat and matched them together.”

“Who are our partners?” Minho asked for the rest of the group.

“Woojin is with Seungmin, Minho is with Jisung, Changbin is with Hyunjin, and Jeongin is with Chan and I. Our team is uneven but we’re going to take turns enough to keep it fair.” Alex reassured the others.

“What do we need to set up? I’ll help you.” Haley offered.

“I’m gonna set up two cameras in the living room. I just need help carrying everything. We’ll need lights and mics too.” Alex and Haley headed to grab the equipment. “Everyone get situated around the room with their partners.”

Back in the living room, Alex and Haley set everything up before sitting with their teams, Haley next to Felix on the floor as Alex sat between Chan and Jeongin. After giving the okay, Alex began his intro before introducing his guests and explaining the game they would be playing. It’s simple. Teams compete against each other for the most points. When it is their turn, each player had to wear a pair of headphones while listening to music to cancel any possible noise. One person on each team will have a word that their partner has to guess by reading the other’s lips. One point is awarded for every word guessed correctly.

Suddenly a thought popped into Haley’s head.

“Wait…if we’re competing then what does the winning team get?”

Alex laughed at himself, “honestly, I hadn’t thought about that. Any ideas?”

“How about the winners pick the last activity before we leave?” Changbin suggested.

Everyone nodded in agreement while Alex smirked, “then it’s settled. Don’t worry, when we win, we’ll pick something fun to do.”

Immediately everyone began arguing, “YAH I don’t think so!” Alex just laughed at their reactions.“Which team wants to go first?”

Changbin and Hyunjin raised their hands, offering to start the game. Surprisingly, the two paired up really well as they scored a total of six points together.

After them, Woojin and Seungmin guessed, earning five points total as Woojin struggled to guess the word spaghetti.

Chan, Jeongin, and Alex’s team went next as they moved into the lead with eight points. Everyone howling with laughter as Jeongin tried his best to get Alex to guess _GOT7_, repeatedly yelling as Alex just stared in confusion.

The remaining two teams began to grow nervous as they were unsure if they’d be able to get more than eight points. Still, the next team was Jisung and Minho. Unexpectedly, they passed Alex’s team with a total of nine points, their bond coming in handy to help them gain the lead.

At last, it was Felix and Haley’s turn. Minho and Jisung handed off their headphones as Haley moved to sit in front of Felix. Woojin held up the first word for Haley to say, _Australia_. The guys chuckling as Haley all but screamed over the loud music, trying to get Felix to guess the word. After a couple attempts, he finally got it right as Woojin held up the next words, Felix guessing them all. Switching sides, it was time for Haley to guess. “This ought to be good” Alex snickered under his breath. Luckily Haley couldn’t hear a thing except the music blaring through the headphones. Changbin showed Felix the first word, Stray Kids, as he attempted to mouth it to Haley. All the girl could do was stare at his mouth, trying her hardest to figure out what the poor boy was saying. After many failed attempts, Felix was about to give up before it finally clicked. “_STRAY KIDS_” Haley screamed as Felix cheered. Alex hitting her shoulder before telling her to be more quiet, “you’re gonna get us kicked out of the apartment.” Haley looked sheepishly as she apologized, “This was a terrible idea.” The next word proved to be much easier as Haley shouted, a little more quietly this time, the word _Spider-man_.

Spoke too soon, Haley thought to herself as she tried to guess what Felix was saying, eventually passing. _Side Effects_ was the next word, Haley easily guessing it correctly. Unfortunately for Felix, Haley struggled with guessing the final word. Just one more point and they’d be tied with Jisung and Minho. The word was _3RACHA_. He tried and tried and tried. Mouthing the word over and over, as slow as possible to get Haley to understand. Staring in utter confusion, she felt bad as she could see the frustration growing across Felix’s face. “I don’t know what the hell you’re saying” Haley confessed just as time ran out. Immediately, Jisung and Minho shouted in joy as everyone groaned.

Haley crossed her arms and pouted, “This game is stupid.”

“You’re just mad because you suck” Alex rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Not shit Sherlock.” Haley leaned against Felix, “I’m sorry you had to be my partner.”

“It’s cool. You were a better partner than any of them anyway.” All the guys hollered as Felix smirked before nudging Haley’s shoulder.

“Alright winners, what are we doing?” Chan asked Minho and Jisung. The two shared a look before Minho spoke up, “we’ll decide that and let you know another day.”

“I don’t know if we should be worried or not” Seungmin confessed.

“Whatever it is, it’ll be fun” Alex reassured before completing his outro, everyone waving goodbye, and shutting off the cameras. Alex began to put away the equipment, with the help of Felix, before returning to the group.

“What are we eating for dinner?” Hyunjin randomly asked, catching everyone’s attention at the idea of food.

“Haley and I can make ramen?” Alex suggested, the guys nodded excitedly.

The two headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner as the guys settled in the living room to watch TV. “Oh yeah, we’re all going to the studio after dinner” Haley announced, gaining a lot of confused looks, except for one as Jisung grinned at the girl.

“What for?” Changbin questioned.

“I have a surprise for you guys.” Haley winked at Jisung before turning back to the food she was preparing. Everyone turned to look at Jisung as he just shrugged his shoulders with a sly look on his face.

Ten minutes later, Haley called for the boys as they had finished cooking dinner, everyone running for the food. As everyone focused on dinner, silence swept over the table until all bowls were empty. The boys looked at Haley expectedly as she raised her eyebrows, “what?”

“So what’s the surprise?” Felix asked impatiently.

“Why don’t we go find out?” Haley suggested before getting ready to leave, the boys following her lead.

“Why do you have your camera?” Alex raises an eyebrow at the girl, who just smirks back at him.

“You’ll see.”


	11. Chapter 11

_Word count: 1815_

Walking inside the studio, Haley set up her camera at the front of the room as the guys just stood, watching in confusion.

“Don’t just stand there, find somewhere to sit,” Haley ushered the boys to move out of the way. Sitting against the wall, out of sight from the camera, Haley turned to Jisung.

“Start the song.”

Jisung did as she requested before moving back to his spot. Music began to play as the boys looked at Jisung in shock. The boy just smirked before nodding his head back to the girl. All eyes watched as Haley flowed through the choreography for _Side Effects_ like it was second nature. When came the part that Haley had originally had difficulty with, Felix, Hyunjin, and Minho tensed up at the memory. However, Haley showed no signs of nervousness, completing the dance perfectly. Jisung watched proudly, knowing he was the reason for this. Jaws dropped as the song came to an end. Shutting off the camera, Haley turned to the boys, everyone sporting shocked faces, except Jisung who had the biggest grin on his face.

“Well… What do you guys think?”

“How did you…” Hyunjin stared in wonder.

Haley just smiled and pointed to Jisung. Several heads turned to the boy, who just shrugged. “She asked me for help. What was I supposed to do? Say no?”

“So that’s why you didn’t ask me to go,” Alex realized.

“I couldn’t sleep knowing I didn’t finish learning the choreography. So I texted Jisung to see if he wanted to go with me to the studio.”

“At two in the morning?” Alex wondered.

“He answered,” Haley just shrugged, “He helped me learn the rest of the choreography and we ended up stopping around 5am so we just took a nap here.”

“Until you guys woke me up. Clearly I wasn’t kidnapped,” Jisung rolled his eyes and Haley giggled.

“Well the car was still with us, you were missing and you weren’t answering your phone,” Felix tried to argue. The members nodded along, “We were worried.”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you guys but I got caught up with helping Haley.”

“I’m sorry too. It’s my fault that he was out,” Haley’s shoulders slumped, guilt consuming her.

“It’s not your fault Hal. I’m the one that agreed,” Jisung comforted the girl, earning him a small smile.

“No more incidents though, right?” Alex questioned.

“Nope. He made sure I took breaks and drank water,” Haley reassured her brother.

Alex mouthed a thank you to Jisung, who nodded back at him.

“So what’s next now that you learned that choreography?” Minho wondered, the rest of the group turning to look at the girl.

Pondering her thoughts, she shrugged her shoulders. “I honestly don’t know. I work all this week so I just have to see what I have time for. We still have to do our cover of _I am YOU_.”

“What day do you guys go back?” Alex asked sadly.

“Sunday,” Chan replied, putting a damper on everyone’s mood.

Haley didn’t like the boys feeling sad so she tried to lighten the mood. “We should have a sleepover sometime this week.”

Immediately, ideas were shouted across the room about what movies they should watch, what games to play, what food to buy, and so on. Haley smiled as the sadness was forgotten momentarily, which was good enough for her.

“We could film our cover then have the sleepover?” Seungmin suggested, the others agreeing with him.

“Sounds like a plan,” Haley grinned ear to ear.

The rest of the day was spent goofing off around the studio until they decided to grab dinner before finally bidding each other goodbye and parting ways for the night.

***

As morning rolled around, Haley groaned when her alarm went off at 9:00 am. Throwing the covers off her body, she rolled out of bed to get ready. Quickly showering before brushing her teeth, she applied light makeup and got dressed. Her uniform consisting of a red t-shirt with **PARADISE WINGS** spread across the back, a black baseball cap with the restaurant logo and black jeans. Deeming herself presentable enough for the day, she shouted a goodbye to Alex, who sat on the couch playing a game, before heading off to work.

Arriving to work twenty minutes early, Haley helped her boss finish preparing everything needed for that day. Flipping the open sign on at approximately 10 am, Haley breezed through the first hour and a half of her shift before the lunch rush hit. Because the restaurant was located in the middle of the city, they typically were hit hard during lunch time as everyone seemed to come there during their breaks. So it came as no surprise when the crowd began to flood in at 11:45 am. Between taking orders, delivering food, cleaning tables and helping in the kitchen, Haley had no time to rest as the crowds continued to come and go. Even as the clock hit 2 pm, the restaurant remained packed.

“Table 19 is requesting for you,” her coworker Mia informed her before continuing to her own customers. She finished wiping off the table before grabbing her pen and pad, walking to the table Mia mentioned.

“Hello, I’m Haley. I’ll be your server for today. What can I get started for you?” she announced before she lifting her head to look at the group staring back at her. Not expecting to see her brother and the boys, she jumped in shock as the boys giggled at her reaction.

“What are you doing here?” She questioned.

“We wanted to see you,” Jisung smiled at the girl as Chan added, “but we’re mostly here for the food,” earning him a kick in the shin from Jisung.

Haley just laughed as the boys began kicking at each other before she interrupted, “do you guys know what you want to order or do you need more time?”

“We’re ready,” Alex answered, proceeding to tell her his order. After all orders were taken, she promised to have it out as quickly as possible before dropping the orders off in the kitchen and assisting to her other customers. In the meantime, Jisung’s eyes remained on her as she maneuvered through the restaurant.

“I feel bad that we came during the rush, she looks like she hasn’t taken a break since she got here,” Felix announced as the group also watched the girl.

“It’s always like this for her,” Alex mentioned. “She’s literally the best employee here. Quickest at taking and delivering orders. Always polite and helps the other workers when they get slammed. She’d never admit it though.”

The boys watched in amazement as Haley balanced a tray that looked like it weighed a ton in one hand while walking to their table. Gently placing each of the plates down, she tucked the tray under her arm.

“Anything else I can get for you boys?” Haley questioned, watching the boys dig into their food.

“We’re good, thanks Hal,” Alex smiled before basically inhaling his own food. Haley continued through the tables, coming back to check on the boys every once in a while. Noticing their cleared plates, she walked back over before getting their attention.

“How are we doing the checks?”

“Just one,” Chan stated, earning a glare from Alex. Delivering their bill, she announced that she’d be back to pick it up shortly.

Back at the boys table, they began to get ready to leave as Haley grabbed the bill. “I’ll be right back with your change.” But before she was able to do so, the boys walked past her towards the exit.

“No need, keep it,” Jisung smiled at her. Haley opened the envelope to see more cash than was needed, her eyes growing in shock before she tried to deny their very generous tip. Too late. Jisung winked at her before following behind the others, not giving her the chance to return the money. Huffing in response, she grabbed what was leftover from the bill and tucked it away into her apron. Thankful that the crowd had finally begun to die down, she worked easily through the last few hours of her shift.

As the clock struck 6 pm, Haley untied her apron, taking all the tips she earned and stuffed it into her pockets. Grabbing her phone, she saw that she had a message from the group.

  


On her way home, she grabbed Chinese takeout and plopped onto the couch to watch Netflix. Watching a couple episodes of The Office, she finished her food before throwing it away in the trash. After cleaning herself up, she lied peacefully in bed while scrolling through social media. Seeing that Seungmin posted on Instagram, she swiped through the photos to see that the boys must have went shopping before going to the movies. Double tapping the photo, she continued to scroll for a little longer before switching to Twitter. As she read through the tweets, her eyes began to flutter closed. Locking her phone, she placed it next to her on the bed before letting sleep take over her.

Around 9 pm, Alex and the boys arrived back at the apartment from the movies, looking around for Haley. Alex headed to her room and found her sound asleep in bed. Quietly shutting the door, he walked back out to the boys.

“She must have really had a bad day. She’s knocked out,” Alex informed the group. Jisung couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, as he had been excited to see Haley. He understood how tired she must have been after seeing how hard she worked during their visit earlier in the day. His grip tightened on the gift he had planned to give Haley, saving it for next time. The boys bid Alex goodbye before heading back to their own place. Back home, the boys parted ways to their own rooms. Jisung laid in bed, unable to get a certain girl off his mind. He was desperate to see her again, even if it was only for five minutes. Trying to distract himself, he grabbed his phone to scroll through twitter. However, his attempt was quickly ruined as one of Haley’s tweets appeared on his timeline. _Was it a sign?_ Jisung thought to himself as he clicked on her profile and scrolled through. He considered texting Haley to see if she had woken up, but was scared that she hadn’t and didn’t want to disturb her. However, he went against his better judgement and sent a quick text to the girl. Biting his lip, he waited impatiently for a response.

Twenty minutes had passed and she had yet to reply. Jisung was about to give up and shut his phone off until it vibrated in his hand. _She’s awake_. Opening the messages, a huge grin appeared on Jisung’s face as he typed a reply.


	12. Chapter 12

_Word count: 1416_

Locking his phone, Jisung grabbed the gift and his things before searching for Chan, who was seated at the desk in his room, working on something on his laptop.

“Hey, just letting you know I’m going to meet Haley at the studio.”

“Okay cool. Take the car and just let us know what your plans are.”

“I will,” Jisung waved as he shut the door behind him, proceeding to get in the car and meet Haley at the studio.

All the way to the studio Jisung bounced excitedly in his seat, ready to see the girl once again. _Was she excited to see me too?_ he thought to himself as he parked the car and waited for Haley to arrive. Not even five minutes later, the girl pulled up and parked next to him. As they both exited their cars, Haley eyed the bag that Jisung was holding suspiciously before narrowing her eyes at him. She unlocked the door, allowing him to enter the building first.

Once they were inside the studio room, Haley immediately turned to the boy and crossed her arms before speaking up.“You’re being very quiet and suspicious. It’s kinda freaking me out,” Haley raised one of her brows.

What Haley didn’t know was that the moment she stepped in his presence, all of his confidence disappeared and was instead replaced with anxiety. _Would she like the gift? Would she think it was stupid or weird?_ These thoughts ran through his head.

Haley’s expression softened after seeing the distressed look upon Jisung’s face.“Ji?” Haley asked quietly.

Blinking rapidly, Jisung shook his head before answering Haley.

“Sorry, I’m just worried you won’t like this,” Jisung said as he handed the bag to Haley. “It’s not much, but I thought of you when I saw this and had to get it for you.”

Haley slowly opened the bag before pulling out the item, revealing an empty picture frame.

“There’s a reason behind this,” Jisung announced. “I remember how you had a picture of you and Alex next your bed and I thought it would be nice for you to have a picture of all of us too.”

Haley’s heart skipped a beat at how Jisung thought about her over the smallest thing. “Ji this is so sweet of you. Thank you.”

“It’s not much but I thought that you’d appreciate it.”

“I do. It’s the thought that matters most.” Jisung’s cheeks reddened at Haley’s comment, the two sharing smiles before she continued, “We have to take a picture before you guys leave.”

Haley noticed how Jisung visibly shrunk when she mentioned the boys approaching departure.

“We’re still gonna stay in contact yeah?” Haley attempted to bring the boy’s mood back up.

“Of course, Hal. I’m not letting you slip through my—our fingers. You and Alex are kinda stuck with us now,”

Haley laughed, not noticing Jisung’s mistake.“Honestly I would say it’s the other way around.”

“Either way, we’re stuck with each other,” The two smiled at each other, sitting in a comfortable silence.

“It’s one am and you have work tomorrow. We should head back home.” Jisung stood before offering a hand to help Haley up.

Grabbing his hand, Haley gave him a questioning look.“You don’t want to dance?”

“Oh no, I just wanted to give you your gift. I was going to give it to you after the movie, but you were already asleep.”

“You do realize you could’ve just came over or asked me to come to you, right?”

“Probably would’ve been the better option, but I wanted to do it here. Ya know, cause it’s kinda like our thing.” Jisung blushed after his last comment.

“What? Coming here at ungodly hours of the night?” Haley asked. Jisung slowly nodded his head, cheeks burning even brighter in embarrassment.“It’s definitely our thing,” she beamed at the boy, ignoring the heat that surfaced onto her own cheeks. Haley carefully placed the frame in her bag as Jisung followed behind her out of the studio.

Before splitting off to their cars, Haley stunned Jisung as she wrapped her arms around his waist, enveloping him into a hug.“Thank you for my gift Ji.”

“You’re welcome, Hal,” Jisung said, wrapping his own arms around the girl. After a moment, they pulled back and smiled before getting into their cars. Jisung rolled his window down and Haley repeated his actions.

“Please text me when you get home,” Jisung asked. Haley nodded, rolling the window back up before driving back home. Jisung arrived home first, as he was staying closer to the studio than Haley. As he settled into bed, Jisung’s phone vibrated.

  
Locking his phone, he threw it onto the bedside table before drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face. What he didn’t know was that Haley had done the same.

_Next morning_

Rainy days could only mean two things for the restaurant: it would be super slow because no one wanted to travel in the rain, or it would be jam-packed because everyone was trying to get out of the rain. Today seemed like it would be the former as they had barely received any customers. Even the usual lunch rush seemed to drag on as only about twenty customers had braved the weather to have a bite to eat. Wiping the same table for the fifth time, Haley’s mind began to wander to when the boys had come to visit her the day before. Even though she had seen them every day that they had been visiting, she couldn’t deny the sadness she felt as she missed them, wishing that they’d walk through those doors at any minute.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as Haley trudged through the rest of her shift. Before she had the chance to remove her apron, her boss appeared before her with a stressed look upon his face. The rain had cleared not too long ago and the beginning of dinner rush had begun an hour early.

“You know I hate to ask but can you–”

“Yes,” Haley patted her boss’s back, who looked relieved. She quickly shot a text to Alex, letting him know that she would be working later than expected.

“What would I do without you Haley?” Her boss praised her. Looking into the dining room, nearly every table was full as the staff moved nonstop Without hesitation, Haley assisted her coworkers with whatever she was needed for. Thanks to her, they’d managed to survive the hectic dinner with few mishaps. She wasn’t the best worker there for nothing, that’s for sure. The clock struck nine pm as her boss approached her once again.

“Thank you for everything, Haley. I’ll be sure to give you an extra day off with pay.”

“You know I don’t mind helping, but thank you.” She fished out her phone as she untied her apron, noticing a message from Jisung.

“Please feel free to grab some dinner before you leave. Have a good night Haley.” Her boss said.

“Thanks boss. You too,” Haley opened Jisung’s message, immediately smiling.

  
Grabbing herself something to eat, Haley made sure to bring something for Jisung too, just in case he was hungry. Gathering the rest of her things, she clocked out before going to meet the boy. It only took her five minutes as the restaurant was much closer to the studio. She immediately spotted Jisung’s car in the parking lot as she pulled in. He had been playing on his phone so he hadn’t noticed her arrive until Haley knocked on his window. The boy jumped in his seat and dropped his phone as he screamed in fear. Haley laughed as he threw a hand across his heart.

Getting out of the car, Jisung glared at the girl who continued to laugh.“You didn’t have to scare me like that.”

“Not my fault you weren’t paying attention” Haley snickered, entering the studio with Jisung in tow. Sitting on the floor, Haley opened her bag before handing the food to Jisung.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be hungry or not so I brought something anyway,” Haley mentioned as she laid out her own food. Jisung thanked her quietly before noticing her attire.

“Did you just get off work?”

“Yeah, we got slammed for dinner so they asked me to stay,” He just nodded his head as they ate in a comfortable silence.

After they’d both finished, Jisung cleared his throat, gaining Haley’s attention.“So I was thinking…”


	13. Chapter 13

_Word count: 1479_

“So I was thinking,” Jisung began, “that we could learn another dance together, if you wanted.”

“Whatcha got in mind?”

“_Bomb Bomb_ by Kard?”

“A million times yes,” Haley grinned brightly. “I’ve been wanting to learn one of their songs so this is perfect.”

“Obviously I’ll learn BM and J.Seph’s part and you’ll learn Jiwoo and Somin’s part,” Jisung stated.

“Who said I couldn’t learn BM and J.Seph’s part?” Haley teased, making Jisung stutter.

“I–I didn’t mean it like that. You can learn whatever part you want. I’ll–”

Haley placed her hand on top of Jisung’s. “Ji, I’m just teasing. Of course I want to learn Jiwoo and Somin’s part. I mean, have you SEEN them dance?”

Jisung tensed at the feeling of her hand on his. Catching Haley’s attention as she moved her hand away, thinking she had made him uncomfortable, before she continued.

“If we’re gonna do this, we can NOT stay here all night because a girl’s gotta go to work.”

“We won’t, don’t worry,” Jisung reassured the girl.

Haley stood to retrieve her bag, pulling out a change of clothes.“Let me get out of this uniform and we can go ahead and start.”

Jisung set up the music while Haley changed. When she entered back in the room, Jisung caught sight of her in the mirror before his mouth nearly dropped open. She wore high waisted joggers and a sports bra, no shirt. He looked away quickly, hoping she hadn’t seen his reaction.

“Apparently I forgot to pack an extra shirt so I just gotta roll with this today. Hope you don’t mind.”

_Why the hell would I mind_, Jisung thought to himself before shaking his head, trying his best to not look at her.

“It’s 10:15pm now, so I figured we could dance for like an hour or so if you’re good with that?” Haley suggested, Jisung nodded his head in agreement.

Haley started the music and they began to run through the moves.

They practiced non-stop for the next hour and a half. With the exception of a few water breaks, they successfully got through the first forty-five seconds of the song, stopping right before the chorus. Haley laid across the floor as Jisung sat next to her, both of them drenched in sweat and panting from exhaustion.

“I can’t do anymore,” Haley groaned, turning over so her forehead rested against the cold floor.

“Let’s go home, it’s almost midnight.” Jisung stood to gather his things. However, Haley made no effort to move from the floor. “Haley don’t you dare fall asleep. You need to go home.”

The only response he got was a series of groans before she flipped onto her back, lifting her arms into the air. “Help?”

Jisung just laughed before helping the girl up. Slowly, she moved to collect her own things before they exited the studio.

“I’d offer to drive you home but I know you need your car for work. Please drive carefully and text me when you get there so I know you’re safe.” Jisung instructed.

Butterflies erupted in her stomach. _Why does he have to be so sweet?_, Haley thought to herself as she just nodded in response. “Bye Ji.”

“Bye Hal.” The two shared a smile before departing.

Haley notified Jisung that she’d gotten home safely before bidding each other a goodnight.

Over the next two days, the pair continued to meet at the studio after Haley got off work to continue their practice sessions. It was Thursday night when they’d finished the choreography. Lucky for them, after their first practice session it was smooth sailing through the rest of the song, so they weren’t staying at the studio as late as they had before.

“Eleven pm? I think that’s a new record for us,” Haley announced in surprise. Jisung was sprawled out across the floor, lifting his head to look at her.“Let’s keep it that way.” Haley just laughed in response before suddenly growing quiet. Jisung could sense the change in her mood, directing all of his attention to the girl.“What’s on your mind?”

“I just realized that if we record our cover, that my identity will be revealed.” Haley looked up with worried eyes as Jisung just stared in confusion.

“What do you mean revealed?”

“You’ve seen my videos. I’ve never shown my face. No one even knows my real name.”

“I can hide my face, I don’t mind,” Jisung tried to reason with the girl.

“I know you can but remember I’m supposed to do a cover of _I am YOU_ with all of the group. Even if we hide your faces, everyone will be able to figure out that it’s you guys.”

“What’s wrong with people knowing who you are? You’re an amazing dancer. You shouldn’t hide your talents.”

“It’s not like I want to hide things. It’s the fact that people aren’t always the most accepting. When someone likes something or does something, there’s always going to be someone else who tries to put them down for that specific thing.” Haley hung her head low as she continued, “I don’t want someone to ruin dancing for me. Not when it’s such a big part of my life.”

Jisung’s heart ached for the girl, knowing full well what it was like to worry about what people would think of you for something you did. As an idol Jisung still struggled with this, but fortunately he wasn’t alone in the situation as he had eight best friends who helped him every day.

“I can’t tell you that there will only be good responses because that’s not the truth. There’s always going to be someone being negative, I can tell you that from experience. But what I can tell you is that there will always be people who will support you. There will be people who will love you for who you are and for what you do. I can guarantee you that you will always have mine and the guys support, no matter what. All of us still struggle with these kinds of things, but we have each other for support. You have Alex, and now us. Dancing is your passion and you should share it with others. I can assure you that you’ll feel much better when you finally let everything out into the open.”

Jisung finished his speech before glancing up at Haley, his eyes growing wide at the sight of her teary ones. He began to panic, moving closer to the girl who just stared at him.“Oh my god Hal. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m sorry if I said something to upset you. What did–”

“I’m not crying because I’m sad, you doofus.” Haley sniffled, confusing the boy in front of her.

“You’re gonna have to elaborate.”

Haley smiled as she wrapped her arms around the boy’s waist, “I’m just really happy that we met. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Jisung returned the gesture, resting his head on top of hers.“You won’t ever have to find out either.”

The two of them stayed in that position for a short time before Haley moved her arms and lifted her head. Locking eyes with the boy, neither of them spoke a word for a moment. Haley was the first to break eye contact as she quickly glanced down at his lips before looking back into his eyes. Jisung’s heart began to race rapidly as he repeated her actions. Looking back, he tried to decipher the emotions in her eyes. Jisung wanted to say something, anything to break the silence but as he opened his mouth, something in Haley switched.

“It’s late, we should head back home.” Haley’s cheeks burned a deep red as she gathered her things, trying to hide her face from the boy. Jisung tried not to let his disappointment show as he grabbed his stuff as well. Haley walked out of the studio, afraid that he would try to bring up whatever just happened between them back in the room.

Jisung could tell that the girl was embarrassed so he decided not to mention anything right now.“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Jisung looked at the girl with hopeful eyes.

Sighing in relief, Haley gave him a soft smile.“Of course.”

Standing next to their cars, the two shared a look. “Drive carefully” Jisung stated.

“You too,” Haley replied before starting the car and driving away, Jisung following in suit.

Arriving home, Jisung laid in bed, debating whether or not he should text Haley to see if she’d gotten home safely. Remembering the situation from the studio and how she had reacted, he decided against it, afraid he’d only scare her off more. Locking his phone, he stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the day to come.

_What’s going to happen now?_


	14. Chapter 14

_Word count: 1695_

“Why do you keep staring at the clock?” Mia asked Haley, who jumped in surprise.

“I must have just zoned out, my bad.” Haley shook her head.

“What’s got you all distracted? You’re not usually like this.”

“Nothing. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Unconvinced, Mia narrowed her eyes before shrugging her shoulders, “If you say so H.”

Haley watched as Mia walked away into the kitchen. She wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t sleep well but that was all because of a certain boy who refused to leave her thoughts. Every time she closed her eyes, the scenario from the studio replayed over and over and all she could picture was Jisung looking back at her.

The way his eyes flickered from her lips to her eyes. She could’ve sworn that he had begun to lean in but maybe that was just her mind playing tricks on her. He’s leaving soon anyway. The thought popped into her head, feeling stupid for getting her hopes up so quickly. It’s not like he would like someone like her when he has girls throwing themselves at him every day. Still, she couldn’t help but think about what might’ve been.

Shaking her head to rid her thoughts of the boy, Haley cleared an abandoned table for the next customer as her boss approached her.

“Need me to do something boss?”

“After you finish with that table, you can head home early.”

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, “But I don’t get off until 5 today.”

“We have enough staff to get us through the rest of the day. You deserve it for helping us through yesterday.” Her boss smiled.

“I don’t mind staying to finish my shift.” Haley tried to argue with the man but he just shook his head.

“I won’t take no for an answer. I’m giving you paid time off, now go home and relax.”

“Getting to paid to relax? I guess I can’t complain now.” She grinned as her boss just laughed in amusement.

“You can have Monday off as well.” Haley was about to argue before her boss interrupted her, “with pay.”

“If you insist.” Haley began to remove her apron, “You know you can call me if you need me.”

“I know, have a good weekend Haley.”

“You too, boss” Haley waved goodbye to the rest of her coworkers before heading to her car. Notifying Alex that she had gotten off early, she started on her way home.

Meanwhile, Alex was hanging out at the apartment with the rest of the guys. Him, Changbin, Seungmin and Felix all sat on the couch, controllers in their hands as they played Smash Bros, while the rest of the guys watched around them. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket in the middle of their match but continued playing. Shortly after, Changbin was the first to die, thanks to Felix while Seungmin soon followed, leaving just Alex and Felix fighting to win the match. It had begun to grow intense as all of the guys cheered for the two players.

No one had noticed Haley enter the room, eyes focused on the game as they continued yelling. Haley walked behind Alex before making her presence known.

“Having fun?”

In a flash, Alex threw his controller across the room as he jumped in fright, letting out a high-pitched squeal. Felix took that as his chance to knock Alex off the map, effectively winning the match.

Alex turned around with a hand over his heart, looking at Haley with wide eyes, “DON’T DO THAT.”

Haley threw her hands up in defense before moving to sit on the floor next to Jeongin.

“Why are you home?” Alex asked once his heart rate returned to normal.

“Didn’t you get my text?”

“I was kinda in the middle of something important WHICH you interrupted, thank you very much.” Alex glared at the girl who just shrugged her shoulders.

“If y’all weren’t so damn loud then you would’ve heard me.”

“We weren’t that loud.”

“Bitch I could hear you from my car.”

“Your point is?”

“My point is that you’re gonna get us kicked out like that.”

“I–you right” Alex nodded his head in agreement before remembering something. “Wait, you never answered my question. Why are you home early?”

“Boss let me go because I stayed to help last night. He’s even letting me have Monday off.” Haley smirked, “with pay too.”

“Nice.” After giving Haley a fist bump, he stood up and finally retrieved the controller he had thrown earlier.

“What do you guys want to do today?” Felix asked the group.

“We could go to the studio?” Haley suggested, “We need to do our cover of _I am YOU_.”

“I’m down. How about you guys?” Chan asked the members. Everyone nodded their heads as Haley ran to her room to grab her equipment.

Returning to the living room, all the boys were waiting for Haley. “Got what you need?” Felix asked, Haley giving him a thumbs up. They gathered inside the cars, driving to the studio but not without stopping and grabbing something to eat on the way at the nearest burger joint. Once they’d arrived, they quickly ate before Haley began to set up her equipment.

“Don’t mind me, i’ll just be over here on my phone.” Alex stated as he flopped onto the couch.

“Let’s run through the routine a few times so we can figure out the best placements for Haley.” Hyunjin recommended. Doing as Hyunjin said, the boys moved into their original positions before beginning. Every once and awhile, they would throw out suggestions for where Haley would fit best in the already established choreography.

“Before we add you in, can you show us your cover first?” Minho asked Haley. Moving from her spot against the wall, she stood in the center of the room to do as they asked. Flowing through the choreography, the boys watched closely at how she danced. Once she was done, they proceeded to stand around her.

“Alright, so for the beginning, you’re going to stand in the back. When Jisung lays his hand against your shoulder, you’re going to pop up and do your own move,” Hyunjin began to demonstrate.

“When the chorus begins, you’ll stand between Chan and Changbin then move to the center next to Chan when his part begins” Minho added. The members continued to accommodate Haley into the choreography.

Next was the “you and I” part where Hyunjin was in the center. Felix had moved Haley to stand between Jisung and Woojin but Hyunjin had a better idea. “I think Haley needs to be at the front for this part because you can’t see her behind me.” He motioned for her to come up, moving her next to him, “Much better.”

“At the end of the song, we usually stay standing after dropping our hands. But with Haley in the back, I think we should kneel down and only have her standing.” Changbin recommended.

“That’s actually a good idea,” Felix complimented. After several practice runs, they finally perfected their new version of the choreography.

“Let’s take a short break before we record,” Chan advised, drinking his water as everyone began to follow suit. One by one, they settled into the beginning position.

“Alex, could you hit record?” Haley asked the boy who’d been engrossed in his phone the entire time. Moving from the couch, he walked over to the camera and did as Haley asked. As the song began, they danced without mistakes until Changbin and Haley accidentally stumbled into each other.

“That was my fault, sorry guys,” Changbin apologized, sheepishly smiling at Haley. Restarting the song, they danced more carefully to avoid more mistakes. Alex watched in amazement at how well they accommodated each other. As they finished the final move, they dropped their hands to the side and crouched, leaving Haley in complete visibility.

Everyone panted heavily as they completed recording the video. Before Haley could process it, the boys jumped up in excitement.

“We did it!” They shouted. Felix lifted Haley in the air and swung her around as the girl burst into giggles.

“Put her down before you drop her,” Chan playfully scolded the boy, who did as the leader said.

“Is that what you wanted for your video?” Jeongin asked the girl.

“Absolutely. Thanks for doing this,” Haley stated, gratefully.

“Of course! We’ve never done anything like this before so thank you too,” Seungmin said in return. Haley stopped the camera before turning to Jisung.

“Should we do it now?” She asked the boy.

“Might as well since we’re already here.” Jisung shrugged his shoulders.

“Do what now? What are y’all talking about?” Minho asked, everyone looking at them in confusion.

“Then let’s go,” Haley stated before restarting her camera and the music as Jisung got into position next to her.

“Oh my god,” Hyunjin and Felix said immediately after they heard the beginning of _Bomb Bomb_ flow through the speakers as the two started dancing. Everyone watched entranced at how well the two paired together. Finishing the song, Haley turned to Jisung as she held her hand up. Jisung laughed before giving the girl a high five.

“This is why you skipped our game night?” Alex asked, pretending to be hurt.

“Sorry A. Jisung and I wanted to do one more dance before he left.”

“Nah it’s cool. I had Felix to play games with anyway,” Alex stated, the aussie boy’s cheeks reddening at the mention of his name.

“So what I’m getting from this is that you guys ditched us so you could dance and play video games.” Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at the culprits. “I demand a sleepover.”

“A sleepover?” Alex asked, sighing in relief.

“Did I stutter?” Hyunjin jokingly replied, “Tomorrow is our last full day together so we HAVE to have one.”

“Yeah let’s do it!” Felix shouted in agreement.

“What do you say?” Chan asked Alex and Haley.

The two siblings shared a look, “I’m down if you are,” Alex announced, making everyone turn to look at the girl who just pursed her lips.

“Looks like we’re having a sleepover.”


	15. Chapter 15

_Word count: 1459_

“Looks like we’re having a sleepover” Haley beamed brightly as the boys had begun to cheer. Out of nowhere, Alex grabs Haley and tosses her over his shoulder before running out of the room. The boys burst into laughter at the scene as Haley let out a loud shriek.

“PUT ME DOWN YOU MORON!” They heard her yell from down the hall, to which Alex just laughed evilly in response. Jisung gathered Haley’s belongings before the boys ran to catch up with the two siblings. Walking outside, the boys stopped dead in their tracks. Before their eyes, Alex was trying to dodge Haley’s hits.

“You could’ve dropped me!”

“But I didn’t!”

“Alright kids, enough fighting” Hyunjin joked. Haley darted towards the boy, ready to pounce until Jisung wrapped his arms around the girl’s waist and held her back.

“Someone’s feisty” Chan laughed, immediately hiding behind Felix when Haley glared at him.

“Are you guys done? I’m ready for our sleepover.” Jeongin said with a pout. Jisung removed his arms from around Haley.

Brushing her shirt, she answered the youngest, “Yes. Let’s go.”

******

_Back at the apartment_

“Okay now what” Woojin asked as everyone sat around the living room staring at each other.

“Let’s play some games” Seungmin suggested.

“What game?” Woojin asked.

“Smash Bros. I demand a rematch from earlier.” Alex stated, glaring at Felix. Alex proceeded to set up the game, handing controllers to Felix, Jisung and Woojin, while everyone else situated themselves around the players.

“I’m gonna grab snacks. Any requests?” Haley asked as the boys shouted different things, not taking their eyes off the TV.

“I’ll help you” Chan offered.

In the kitchen, Haley prepared their drinks while Chan stood quietly to the side, holding two bowls of chips.

“You good over there?” Haley asked over her shoulder.

“What’s going on between you and Jisung?” Haley tensed, Chan noticed.

“Nothing. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Haley refused to turn around, her red cheeks would be a dead giveaway.

“Do you really think I’m that stupid?” Chan asked, the question coming out more harsh than he had meant.

Haley turned around in a panic, “No! Of course not! I just-”

“Anyone with eyes can see that you two have something…or at least you could.” Chan tried to calm the panicked girl down.

“What do you mean?” The girl looked at him with expectant eyes.

“Granted we haven’t known each other for very long but I can see the way you look at each other. He’s smiled more within the time that we’ve been here than he has in a long time.”

Haley smiled softly at the boy’s confession while Chan continued. “I’ve never seen someone connect so well with someone like the way you two have when you dance.”

“I don’t know about all that…” Haley didn’t want to get her hopes up. Maybe Chan was just trying to be nice, that’s all.

“Look. I’m not going to pry between whatever you guys may have. All I’m saying is that you guys compliment each other well. Interpret that however you please.”

She could see the sincerity in his eyes as he gave her a small smile, “okay” Haley replied before grabbing what she originally came into the kitchen for and returned to the other boys.

“What took you so long? We literally played three rounds while you were gone.” Alex stated.

“I didn’t know what snacks to get” Haley shrugged her shoulders, only telling half the truth.

“By now you should know to just grab everything.”

“Got it. Can I play now?” Haley asked, Alex handing his controller to her. Now it was Haley vs. Felix vs. Changbin vs. Hyunjin.

“This will be an easy win” Felix stated confidently.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that” Alex tried to hold in his laughter, Felix only looking at him confused. Picking their characters, the boys all laughed at Haley’s choice.

“Really? Kirby?” Felix snorted, nudging Haley’s side. Ignoring them, she turned to Alex who just winked at her, none of the boys noticing their interaction. As the match began, it didn’t take long for Haley to knock Changbin off the map, everyone’s eyes growing wide because they weren’t expecting that. Mildly panicking, the other players concentrated in defeating the girl. Didn’t last long because Hyunjin ended up falling off the map and killing himself, leaving just Felix to defeat Haley.

“Hey Hal.” Alex spoke up.

“Yeah?”

“Do your move.”

“MOVE? WHAT MOVE?” Felix watched in horror as Haley kicked him in the air, slammed him into the ground then sent him flying off the map with her hammer.

Speechless. Literally speechless.

“Where did you–” Felix begun.

“All those years of playing with Alex finally paid off.” Haley could only laugh, high-fiving Alex behind her.

Felix just pouted next to her, causing Haley to laugh more. “Don’t worry, I’m not playing anymore” She said as she handed her controller to Chan, the boys immediately jumping into a new round. Moving to sit next to Woojin, she heard a slight grumble. Turning to the boy, she asked, “Hungry?” Nodding his head, she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear over the game.

“Should I order pizza?” Multiple yeses were thrown her way as she proceeded to pull up the app on her phone and order four large pizzas. Remembering how these boys tended to eat, she quickly added two more pizzas just in case. Thirty minutes passed before Haley had a strong urge to use the bathroom.

“I’ll be right back” She announced before leaving the room. Not even a minute after she had gone, someone knocked on the door. With everyone too occupied with the game on the TV, Jisung was the only one to acknowledge the visitor. Getting up from his seat, he opened the door to find a boy close to his age holding a large pile of boxes.

“Hi! Order for Haley?” The boy asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Jisung grabbed the boxes from the boy to sit them on the counter.

“That’ll be $39.60.”

Before Jisung had the chance to pull out his wallet, Haley came running around the corner, money in hand.

“Jacob! Hi! Here you go” Haley smiled at the boy, handing him the cash.

“Thanks! Tell Alex I said hi. Have a good night Haley!”

“I will! You too!” Haley announced as the boy walked away. Shutting the door, she turned to Jisung who had been pouting the whole time.

“What?” Haley laughed, grabbing the pile of boxes and heading to the kitchen, Jisung in tow.

“I was going to pay for it.”

Haley could only roll her eyes, “yeah, like I would’ve let that happen.” Jisung just huffed as she called for the other boys to come eat. Filing into the kitchen one after the other, their eyes widened at the amount of food.

“Did you order enough?” Alex asked jokingly.

“You do realize I have to feed Chan too right” Haley snorted, looking at the aussie boy. The boy just smiled sheepishly.

“I–I can’t even argue with you on that.” Chan admitted.

“Exactly.”

“What kind did you get?” Alex asked.

“Don’t worry, I got your abomination of a pizza.” Gaining confused looks, Haley looked at them deadpanned and lifted the pizza box lid, “pineapple.”

“Look, just because you don’t have good taste in pizza doesn’t mean I do too” Alex narrowed his eyes.

“Whatever. I also got cheese, pepperoni, and sausage because I wasn’t sure what you guys liked.”

“Thank you” Everyone responded before digging in to the pile. Forty minutes later, only empty pizza boxes remained as everyone sat content and quiet around the table until Changbin broke the silence.

“Let’s watch a movie.” Heads raised at the idea, beginning to get up from the table.

“WAIT!” Everyone turned to look at the girl, waiting.

“Can we put our pjs on now?” Haley asked with her lips in a pout. Jisung believed his heart would burst at the sight. Cute, he thought.

“Sure Hal” Alex laughed as his sister took off to her room before turning to the boys, “You guys can borrow my clothes if you need to.” A few heads nodded as Alex led them to his room before returning to the living room to choose a movie.

“What should we watch?” Alex asked.

“I was thinking one of these” Chan showed him the choices, making Alex smirk.

“The second one. Haley will love it.”

“What will I love?” Haley said as she finally emerged from her room wearing shorts and the biggest hoodie possible. All eyes turned to her as she noticed the smirk on Alex’s face.

“We picked a movie.” Alex announced. Haley’s eyes lifted towards the TV before she choked.

“Hell NO.”


	16. Chapter 16

_Word count: 1316_

“Hell NO” Haley refused, seeing the movie they’d picked out.

“What? It’s a good movie!” Chan pouted.

“I am not watching _A Quiet Place_” Haley deadpanned.

“Alex said you’d like it!” Chan announced, clearly confused.

“He lied! He just wants me to get scared” Haley whined, pulling on the sleeves of her hoodie.

“Awwww do you get scared easily?” Felix teased the girl, immediately cowering when she shot him daggers.

“No” “Yes” Haley and Alex spoke at the same time, the girl’s cheeks turning red.

“Don’t feel bad, Minho and Jisung get easily scared too.” Woojin stated, the two boys yelling in embarrassment.

“Hyung stopppppp” Jisung pouted, crossing his arms across his chest.

“In that case, I’m sitting with you so we can be scared together” Haley announced, moving to sit next to him on the loveseat.

“So what I’m hearing is that you’re agreeing to watch the movie” Alex pointed out, earning a glare from Haley.

“Like I had a choice to begin with.” Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the nearest blanket before draping it over her legs, offering it to Jisung to share, “Let’s just get this over with please.”

Everyone got comfortable as Chan pressed play. The beginning of the movie wasn’t scary as Haley remained relaxed. However that didn’t last long because the next scene was the part where the family is walking across the bridge. Haley tensed as the little boy on the screen played with the toy when it made a noise. Suddenly one of the creatures snatched up the little boy, effectively making Haley scream. The boys all turned to look at Haley, trying their best to hold in their laughter.

“I hate all of you” Haley grumbled, pulling on the sleeves of her hoodie in embarrassment. The further they got into the movie, the more Haley continued to flinch at anything. As they were nearing the end, Jisung knew that the worst part would happen any minute now. Deciding to make a move, he tapped Haley on the shoulder. Of course, the action frightened her and she accidentally punched him out of instinct.

“Oh god I’m sorry but you can’t do that to me!” Haley whisper-shouted, feeling on edge. Jisung rubbed the spot on his shoulder that she had hit.

“I guess I should’ve seen that coming” Jisung laughed it off before continuing with his original plan, “come here.” Without hesitation, Haley scooted closer to the boy. Lying with her back against his chest, Jisung wrapped one arm around her shoulder while the other rested behind his head. The movie’s climax had begun and Haley was absolutely terrified. Pulling on Jisung’s arm, she moved it to hide her eyes from the creatures on the TV. The arm that had previously rested behind his head had now moved to wrap around Haley, pulling her tighter into his embrace to comfort her. Everyone watched nervously as the mom hid in the bathtub, hiding from the creature looking for her when the fireworks erupted causing everyone to jump in fright as the creature ran off. For the remainder of the movie, Haley hid behind her sleeve-covered hands, peeking out every once in a while. Finally, the credits rolled across the screen as Haley breathed a sigh of relief.

“Next time, please count me out” Haley pleaded, “I’m going to have nightmares thanks to you guys.”

“How about another movie?” Jisung asked. Haley turned to him as if he’d grown two heads.

“Absolutely not!”

“Not even if you get to pick it?” Jisung asked, one eyebrow raised.

“In that case” Haley began her search, already having something in mind. Finding what she was looking for, she turned to the group, “we’re watching _Detective Pikachu_.”

“We’ve literally watched that six times in the past month” Alex groaned, earning a scowl from Haley.

“You’re not allowed to complain after putting me through that traumatic experience. Plus, Jisung said I could pick” Haley stated matter-of-factly.

“But that’s not—” Alex tried to say, quickly being interrupted.

“Ah ah ah, don’t argue with our guests” Haley said proudly, grinning when Alex deadpanned towards her. Huffing in his seat, he gave up arguing with the girl, knowing it would get them nowhere. Felix just laughed next to him, patting his knee before turning to the girl.

“I, for one, am very happy to watch the movie” Felix stated, causing everyone else to agree. Smiling triumphantly, Haley pressed play.

Two hours later, the movie had finished as a few yawns were heard. About thirty minutes into the movie, Woojin, Hyunjin, and Jeongin had fallen asleep while the rest continued to watch.

“Where should we sleep?” Changbin asked, immediately yawning after.

“Let’s just all asleep in here” Haley said sleepily. Getting up to stretch, she left the room before coming back a few minutes later, carrying a pile of blankets. Handing them out to the boys, she returned to her spot next to Jisung who opened his arms for the girl to lay on his chest. Snuggling close, he threw the blanket over both of them as they watched Chan, Felix and Alex play Smash Bros again. The last thing Haley saw was Felix nudging Alex with his shoulder before falling asleep to the sound of Jisung’s steady heartbeat. Pretty soon, Jisung followed suit as he heard the soft snores come from Haley.

The clock hit two am and the remaining ones awake were Alex and Chan, as Felix had fallen asleep about thirty minutes ago against Alex’s legs.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do when you guys leave on Sunday” Alex said sadly.

“Trust me, we don’t want to leave. It’s been a lot of fun being with you guys these past two weeks” Chan added.

“I wish we could move to Korea. It’s going to be especially hard on Hal, I can already tell.”

“What’s stopping you?” Chan asked, making Alex go silent. After a few moments, he answered.

“I–I don’t know” Alex admitted. “I’m not really concerned about the language barrier, and neither is Haley. It’s just a lot to consider. We’d have to give up everything here for something completely new. We’d have to find a place that’s affordable and she’d have to find a new job. I guess the stress from trying to do all of that is what’s stopping us.”

“You know, we could help you with some of those things if you’re seriously considering this” Chan offered.

“We couldn’t do that to you guys. You’ve done so much for us already.”

“It’s really not that big of a deal. Think about it…if you guys did this, we could see you much more often. I know that would make the guys really happy, especially Jisung and Felix” Chan mentioned. Alex looked at him confused. He understood about Jisung but why Felix? Chan doubled checked to make sure the other aussie was sound asleep before speaking again.

“The boy doesn’t shut up about you, but I’m not going to get into all that. That’s for you and him to deal with” Chan stated. After hearing this, Alex’s cheeks were as red as a tomato. “You didn’t hear this from me, okay?” Chan pointed a finger at the boy.

“Okay” Alex said quietly.

“But seriously, if you guys do decide to do this, don’t be afraid to come to us. We’d love to help.”

“We will, thank you.”

Chan nodded in response, signaling the end of the conversation. Chan moved to stretch across the floor while Alex remained trapped under Felix’s hold on his legs. Getting comfortable, both boys soon fell asleep, emitting a few loud snores. What they didn’t know was that Haley had woken up and heard the entire conversation. She made a note to have a talk with her brother after the boys departed. With much to think about, Haley slowly drifted back to sleep as she snuggled further into Jisung.


	17. Chapter 17

_Word count: 2018_

Haley jolted awake after hearing a rather loud thud come from down the hall. Looking around the room, everyone remained asleep except for Jeongin, who was currently missing. Untangling herself from Jisung’s arms, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stood up before heading towards the noise.

“Are you okay?” Haley asked after finding Jeongin sitting on the floor, head in his hands. The boy looked up with wide eyes, not expecting her to be there.

“Oh yeah, I got up to use the bathroom and wasn’t looking where I was going and kinda ran into the door” Jeongin admitted embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, I’ve done that more times than I should probably admit” Haley laughed, trying to ease the situation as she helped the boy up.

“Thank you” Jeongin responded with a soft smile as Haley returned it.

“Do you like french toast?” Haley asked out of nowhere. The boy nodded as Haley turned around, heading to the kitchen. “Good, because I make the best.”

*****

Fifteen minutes later, all the boys, minus Alex and Felix, entered the kitchen.

“I smelled bacon” Chan announced, practically drooling over the sight of food, making Haley laugh.

“What’s all this?” Woojin asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m making you guys breakfast” Haley replied, continuing to cook.

“You didn’t have–” Jisung begun, stopping when she held up a hand.

“I know. I wanted to” Haley smiled, looking at the group noticing that two were missing. “Where’s Alex and Felix?”

“Sleeping. We couldn’t wake them up” Hyunjin replied. Haley scoffed before grabbing a spatula and pan.

“Do NOT touch the food” Haley narrowed her eyes, walking past the boys into the living room. Seeing the two sleeping boys still asleep on the couch, she stood behind them as she raised her hands. Suddenly the boys jolted up, falling off the couch as Haley beat the spatula against the pan. Groaning, they both glared up at Haley before looking at the others behind her.

“So no one was gonna stop her?” Alex scowled at the girl.

“Nah, we wanted to see what she’d do” Woojin replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Keep looking at me like that and you’re not getting french toast” Haley shot back. Alex’s face immediately brightened at the mention of food. Standing from the floor, the boys all followed behind her as she walked back into the kitchen.

“Can I help you?” Jisung asked the girl. Nodding her head, she gestured towards the bacon in the oven.

“Can you get that out for me? It should be done now.” Doing as she said, he placed it on the counter before grabbing enough plates for everyone. In the meantime, Haley had finished cooking as she began to carry in the food, placing it on the table.

“Haley how long did it take you to do all this?” Felix asked, shocked at the amount of food. On the table sat two piles of french toast, a pile of bacon, a pile of sausage, and some fruit.

“Only like an hour or two” Haley said nonchalantly.

“Why didn’t you wake us?? We could’ve helped!” Chan pouted.

“Because it’s our last full day together and I wanted to do this for you guys. Now just accept the nice gesture before the food gets cold” Haley laughed, proceeding to pile food onto her plate. A chorus of thank you’s were shouted across the table as the boys dug into Haley’s hard work.

“So Jisung and I decided what we wanted to do today” Minho announced, everyone going silent as they gave him a confused look. “You know… from that game we played. We won so we got to pick what we did today.” Everyone’s mouths formed an “o” shape as they remembered.

“So what did you have in mind?” Alex asked.

“We could go to the park down the road. Maybe have a picnic and play some games?” Jisung

As soon as Haley heard the word park, she perked up excitedly, “Yes! Can we play volleyball?”

“Sure Hal” Alex said, making the girl cheer.

“Let’s finish breakfast then get ready to go” Chan announced, everyone agreeing. Haley scarfed down her food before taking off into her room while the boys just watched in amusement.

“You think she’s excited?” Felix asked.

“Maybe a little” Minho laughed.

*****

Haley grabbed the blankets while the rest of the boys unpacked the cars. The sky was cloudy so the park was deserted today therefore, lucky for them, no one could complain about them acting wild. Walking over to a large oak tree, Seungmin helped Haley spread out the blankets for them to sit on. Sitting the rest of their things around them, everyone lied down.

“Okay so there’s a playground, volleyball net, soccer field, basketball court, and a lake that’s a short walk away” Alex explained.

“We already know what Haley wants to do first” Hyunjin said laughing as the girl blushed and hid behind Alex.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go play some volleyball” Felix yelled, grabbing Alex’s hand and running towards the court, leaving Haley behind. Jisung walked up to the girl, reaching a hand out to help her up as they walked to meet the others.

“Teams?” Woojin asked.

“I vote Haley for captain” Seungmin said, raising the girl’s hand.

“I vote Jisung as captain” Minho said, also raising the boy’s hand.

“But the teams will be uneven” Haley acknowledged.

“I’ll be the ref” Seungmin offered, moving to the side, “rock, paper, scissors. Winner chooses first.”

Jisung stood in front of Haley as they played three rounds, Jisung coming out as the winner. Smirking at the girl, he took first pick, “Alex.”

“Chan.”

“Minho.”

“Felix.”

“Changbin.”

“Jeongin.”

“Woojin.”

“Hyunjin” Haley chose last, the teams splitting up on each side of the net. The teams bickered back and forth about who would win as Alex and Haley remained quiet. What the boys didn’t know is that they could get very competitive when it came to sports so they tended to focus more on playing and less on trash talking.

“Since we picked first, you can have first serve” Jisung said, tossing the ball over the net to Haley. Haley began the game with a soft serve, the teams tossing it back and forth until Haley spiked it into the corner, bypassing Woojin. The boys turned to Haley, jaws dropped in shock.

“Well now I see why she wanted to play volleyball” Changbin huffed.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Chan asked.

“Alex and I used to play in high school,” Haley stated proudly. Heads turned to Alex for confirmation, the boy nodded his head before adding, “We’re quite competitive.”

Resuming the game, everyone became more concentrated as each side scored point after point. After twenty minutes, Jisung’s team had seventeen points while Haley’s team had fourteen points. Taking a quick water break, they switched sides of the court before resuming the game. Pretty soon, Haley’s team caught up as they now had twenty four points while Jisung’s team had twenty three points.

“Game point” Seungmin announced. Felix served as Changbin hit the ball, Minho setting it for Alex to spike. However, Haley was quick enough to stop the ball as she hit it towards Jeongin who spiked it from the front, faster than they were able to react.

Haley cheered as Chan, Felix, and Hyunjin lifted Jeongin in the air to celebrate. The opposing team just watched as Haley treaded towards Alex, who stood on the other side. “Best two out of three?” she asked, Alex giving her a fist bump as he grabbed the ball and walked back to his team.

After the second game, it was Jisung’s team’s turn to celebrate as they won twenty five to twenty thanks to Woojin spiking it between Chan and Felix, causing the two boys to collide and miss the ball.

“Since those two can’t play, I think we should play the last game as three versus three” Seungmin suggested, giving the makeshift ice packs to the aussie boys.

“So Haley, Jeongin and I against…” Hyunjin trailed off.

“Alex, Woojin and I” Jisung finished for him.

“Get in your spots” Seungmin ordered, ready for the last match to begin.

Face to face, the siblings playfully glared at each other as the ball was served. The ones on the side were on the edge of their seats as they watched the teams go back and forth. Without a doubt, Alex and Haley were the star players as everyone’s eyes remained on them.

24 - 24

“Game point” Seungmin announced, everyone silent as they watched nervously. “Can everyone relax? You’re acting like this is the Olympics for god’s sake” Seungmin joked, trying to ease the tension.

The boys laughed as Haley and Alex shrugged their shoulders. “Can’t help that we’re competitive” the girl replied. Seungmin gave Hyunjin the signal as he served the ball over the net. Jisung hit the ball towards Alex, him tossing it over the net. Jeongin saved it as he set it for Hyunjin to spike. But his hit was a little too weak as Woojin easily hit it high in the air for Jisung to toss, giving Alex the opportunity to spike. The ball headed straight towards Jeongin who wasn’t quick enough to stop the ball. However, Haley easily slid across the ground to save it as Jeongin tossed it into the air. They weren’t quick enough as Haley spiked the ball right in front of Jisung, ultimately scoring the last point of the match and winning the game.

Falling to her knees, Haley panted as the boys screamed. Chan and Felix ran over as Hyunjin and Jeongin tackled the girl out of excitement.

“We won!”

“Haley that was amazing!” Hyunjin shouted, lifting the girl in the air and swinging her around. The girl squealed as she started to hit the boy’s arm, not able to control her laughter as she demanded to be put down. Hyunjin did as she requested, the other team walked over to join the chaos.

“Good game Hal” Alex said, giving the girl a high five, along with Woojin and Jisung who grinned at her.

“Remind me to be on your team next time” Jisung stated, making everyone agree as Haley giggled.

Suddenly everyone grew silent as they looked at Haley, the girl grinning sheepishly as her stomach growled, “so who’s hungry?”

*****

After eating the lunch that Haley and Chan had prepared, the boys went and played soccer while Haley stayed back. Jisung had tried to keep her company but she insisted he join the others while she watched. She was going to miss this. Miss being with the boys everyone. Miss feeling as happy as she did. It wasn’t going to be the same after tomorrow. What would Alex do when she was at work? What would she do when she got off work? How was she supposed to go to the studio without being sad? The boys had been there for such a short time and yet they impacted her life so much. How was she even supposed to come back to this park after today? She didn’t want to admit it but she was going to miss Jisung the most. She’d grown so attached to the boy, it was going to break her heart after he was gone. Thinking back to the conversation she overheard between Alex and Chan, she wondered. What if they really did move? Could they have more moments like these? But was it even possible for them to do it? She didn’t want to get her hopes up but after hearing what Chan said…Shaking her head, she promised herself to enjoy the moment, possibly the last one she’d have with those boys.

Brushing off her clothes as she stood, she grabbed her bag and walked over to the boys. Watching as Felix tackled Alex so he could get the ball, the girl couldn’t help but smile sadly as she cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. The boys noticed how Haley’s smile didn’t reach her eyes as she spoke up.

“Let’s go for a walk.”


	18. Chapter 18

_Word count: 1683_

“Let’s go for a walk.”

“Everything okay Hal?” Alex asked the somber girl.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Haley gave the boy a questionable look. She didn’t want the boys to know what she had been thinking about, not wanting to bring the mood down.

“You seem down” Alex pointed out.

“I just wanted to take a walk around the lake with my boys” Haley stated, their hearts swelling at her comment.

“Then let’s go” Jeongin said as he looped his arm with Haley, causing the girl to giggle as they skipped off towards the lake, the others following behind them. They’d reached the water as Haley unlinked her arms from the youngest before turning around to face the others.

“Follow me” Haley stated, leading the boys to the pier across the lake. Walking towards the end, the boys looked around at the scenery. So serene and quiet. Click. The boys turned around, eyes finding Haley with her camera in hand.

“What are you–” Chan started.

“Move closer together” Haley demanded. Raising the camera back to her eye, the boys huddled in a group as the girl took a few photos. Lowering the camera, she looked happily at how the photos turned out as Alex reached for the camera.

“Your turn” Her brother announced, not giving her much time to argue as he pushed her to the boys. Standing in the middle, Haley threw an arm around Jisung and Chan’s waist as she grinned brightly. The boys hugging each other closely while Jisung wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulders. Alex snapped a few photos before handing the camera back to Haley. Pulling out the tripod from her bag, she set the camera up for a group photo. The boys made room for the two as Haley pressed the timer. Squeezing between Jisung and Hyunjin while Alex stood between Chan and Felix, the group smiled as the timer ended, signaling the flash. Haley darted towards the camera, glancing at the photo before smiling softly. The others gathered around to look at the photos as well. Haley peered over her shoulder at Jisung before speaking.

“Now I have a photo for the frame” she stated, making the boy smile.

“Frame?” Jeongin asked, him and the others clearly confused.

“Jisung bought a frame for me to put our photo in and I could keep it next to my bed” Haley said fondly. The boys smiled at Jisung and Haley. All of them thinking something similar to how cute the pair was.

*****

The sun had begun to set as the group sat on the pier. No one really talked as they admired the view in a peaceful silence. Knowing what was to come the next day, they wanted to make the moment last as long as they could. That is, until Alex’s stomach grumbled, making everyone burst into laughter.

“I guess that’s our cue for dinner” Haley giggled. Standing from her spot, she brushed off her clothes, the boys following her lead.

“Why don’t we go somewhere nice tonight? We can go back to our places and get ready and meet there?” Minho suggested. Everyone agreeing as they prepared to leave, but not before an idea popped into Haley’s head. Just as Alex went to gather his belongings, the girl pushed him into the lake before darting away, laughing evilly. Alex came up coughing, shaking the water from his face.

“I’m going to kill her” The boy stated, glaring at the girl’s retreating figure as the others finally released their laughter. Felix leaned over the edge to help him up, holding a hand out for Alex to grab. However immediately regretting it as Alex pulled him in too. Alex just smirked as Felix stared dumbfounded at him.

“THAT’S for laughing” Alex laughed back.

*****

What the hell am I supposed to wear? Haley thought to herself as she stood in her room, towel wrapped around her body. The boys suggested a rather fancy restaurant and now she was having to wear something other than leggings and sweats. She’d already done her hair and makeup, opting for her hair down in waves with light makeup. But she was stuck on what to wear. Groaning loudly, she fell onto the bed in annoyance. A knock sounded off her door.

“It’s almost time to meet the guys, you ready?” Alex yelled from the other side. Haley sighed in response, Alex could hear it faintly. “I’m coming in” he announced. Walking in her room, he saw the girl staring up at the ceiling, clearly not ready.

“Why aren’t you dressed?”

“Because I don’t know what to wear” Haley whined, looking over at her brother who was dressed in cropped black jeans and a short-sleeved navy button up. Opening her closet, he looked through her collection before choosing for her.

“Wear this” Alex demanded, walking out of the room. Before shutting the door, he yelled, “We have to leave in five minutes so hurry.”

Haley opened her eyes to look at what Alex had chosen before rolling her eyes. At least it was black, she thought as she dropped the towel and put on the dress. It was a short black dress, buttons across the front with sheer sleeves and a bow around the neck. Slipping on her flats, she tugged on her sleeves before grabbing her phone, stuffing it inside her bag as she exited her room. Alex stood by the door with his phone in hand, looking up when he heard footsteps nearing him.

“Jisung’s gonna have a stroke when he sees you” Alex complimented his sister. The girl’s cheeks flushed as she hit him on the arm, softly muttering ‘shut up’ as she walked out the door. Alex followed behind her, locking the door as the two walked to the car. Arriving to the restaurant twenty-five minutes later, Chan had already notified them that they were already inside with private table. Alex informed the hostess as she led them to the back of the restaurant. The boys noticed Alex first as he entered the room, greeting the boy. Felix waved him over, Alex moving to sit in the empty seat. With him out of the way, Haley finally came into view as the boys grew silent. Very aware of the amount of stares she was receiving, she stopped in her tracks with cautious eyes.

“What?” the girl asked.

“We’ve never seen you like this before” Changbin stated.

“You look beautiful” Chan complimented, the rest of the guys agreeing. Haley’s cheeks were bright red as she looked over at Jisung. The two locked eyes, neither of them saying a word for a moment.

“Wow” Jisung breathed, finally breaking the silence. Woojin coughed before nudging the boy. Shaking his head as he snapped back into reality, he stood from his chair to motion the girl closer, “I saved you a seat.”

Her feet moved before her mind even processed it. She hadn’t budged since she first entered the room. She probably looked ridiculous in front of the boys like that.

Jisung had pulled the chair out for her, sitting down as he sat back down next to her. The two shared a smile just as the waitress returned to take their orders. Once she was gone, chatter resumed.

“You two clean up nicely” Hyunjin said, earning a thanks from Alex and Haley.

“So do you boys” Haley replied, smiling softly.

“I know this isn’t something we want to talk about but we need to” Chan started, everyone’s smiles disappearing as they waited for him to continue. “Our flight leaves at two pm tomorrow. We were wondering if you’d come with us to the airport” The leader asked.

“Of course” Alex answered, Haley nodded along with him.

“We’re going to pack in the morning so we figured we could spend the rest of tonight together since we won’t have time to before we leave tomorrow” Chan added.

“We could go see the city, a lot of people walk around at night” Alex suggested.

“Actually, if it’s okay, I was hoping that Haley and I could hang out one last time tonight while you guys go out” Jisung mentioned. Haley turned to the boy in surprise, having no idea that he had intentions of hanging out with her. Raising a brow at the boy, Jisung winked at her before resuming conversation with the boys. Haley couldn’t contain the blush rising to her cheeks as she raised her hands to cover her face.

“As long as you’re back at a reasonable time” Chan reasoned, Jisung nodding his head.

“You can ride with us” Felix directed towards Alex. The waitress returned with their food as they thanked her before digging in to their meals. As the dinner continued, light conversation was heard from across the table as everyone laughed at something Seungmin had said. I’m really going to miss this, Haley thought to herself as she listened to the boys argue over whether or not mint chocolate chip should be a flavor. No one, except Haley, had noticed the waitress return as the boys were focused more on debating. Waving the girl over, Haley slyly handed the waitress her card to pay for the bill. By the time she returned, the boys finally took notice but immediately grew confused as she handed Haley her card back before bidding goodnight to the group.

“Haley what the hell” Chan argued, clearly upset that she had paid. The girl shrugged before standing from her chair and grabbing her things.

Straightening out her dress, she said, “Maybe if you stopped arguing over ice cream then you would’ve noticed the poor girl walk in and beat me to the check. Regardless, mint chocolate chip IS delicious.” Without another word, she pushed her chair in and exited the restaurant as she waited for the boys by the cars. A few moments later, the boys were walking through the door and towards her.

“I’m mad that you did that” Chan complained. Haley just laughed in response before tossing her keys towards Jisung.

“Let’s go pretty boy.”

_____________________________________________________________

Alex and Haley’s outfits for dinner ➜

  



	19. Chapter 19

_Word count: 2419_

“Let’s go pretty boy” Haley announced as she climbed into the passenger side of her own car. Waving goodbye to the guys, Jisung slid into the driver’s seat before turning to Haley.

“Do you want to change first?” Jisung asked.

“I keep extra clothes in the trunk so I will if I need to” Haley replied, “where are we going?”

“Our place” Jisung simply said, making Haley’s heart flutter in awe. Starting the car, he drove in the direction of the studio. Haley could tell that Jisung was nervous about something as he bit his lip and tapped his fingers repeatedly against the steering wheel. _Maybe he was just upset about leaving tomorrow_, Haley thought as she saw the studio come into view.

Walking inside, the two entered their room as Haley turned to the boy. “So why are we here?” she asked him.

“Last night calls for one last dance practice, don’t you think?” Jisung said.

Haley smiled, walking over to the stereo. Turning back to the boy, she asked, “what song?”

“You choose” Jisung offered. At that, Haley went through her selection before settling on one. Pressing play, she waited for Jisung’s approval. “Well?” she asked.

“_Love Shot_?” Jisung asked, making Haley nod. “Okay” Jisung smiled as he moved to the center of the room. Not even bothering to change clothes, they jumped right into the choreo.

Compared to their last sessions, this song proved to be the easiest to learn as they both already knew bits and pieces of the song, finishing it within two short hours. Now, at eleven pm, Haley laid sprawled out on the floor as Jisung rested his head on her thigh.

“Ji” Haley whispered, the boy looking up at her. “I’ll miss our practices” she said sadly.

“I’ll miss you” he replied, voice wavering slightly. No one said anything as they stared at each other for a moment.

“I have something for you” Jisung blurted out, startling Haley as he searched inside the coat he had taken off before they had begun. Haley watched as the boy grabbed a small box from inside the pocket, holding it tightly into his hands as he returned next to the girl on the floor. Nervously, he handed her the box, watching as she slowly opened it.

Haley’s hands froze as she realized what was inside the box. Looking up at the boy, her eyes glistening as she struggled with finding the right words. She reached to pull the item out, carefully holding it in her palm.

“Do you like it?” Jisung asked worried.

“I love it” Haley told the boy, a single tear slipping from her eye. Jisung reached out to wipe it before speaking again.

“J for Jisung. Something for you to remember me by” he replied. Reaching out for the necklace, Haley handed it to him as he urged her to turn around. Haley turned her back to him, his hands brushing along her neck as he wrapped the necklace around her. Securely latching it, he didn’t ignore the fact that his actions had caused goosebumps to appear upon her skin. Before she could turn around, her body froze as Jisung whispered.

“I’m in love with you”

Did she hear him right? Was her mind playing tricks on her again?

There was no way that a boy like him had just admitted he was in love with her.

“What?” Haley finally spoke up, turning to the boy.

“I said” Jisung took a step closer to the girl, “I’m in love with you Haley.”

Haley looked into his eyes, trying to decipher if he was messing with her but she only saw sincerity. She glanced at his lips before looking back into his eyes. Seeing no signs of hesitation, she went for it.

Before he could process what was happening, Haley leaned in, pressing her lips softly to his. Jisung froze, not believing what was happening but as she made no move to back away, he finally kissed back. Haley wrapped her arms around his neck and he gently placed his hands on her cheeks. The moment ended sooner than they had wanted but they needed to catch their breath. Haley’s arms dropped as she placed her hands over his chest.

“I’m in love with you too Han Jisung.”

Jisung’s eyes widened as he beamed at the girl, “Really???”

“Yes” Haley replied quickly, pressing her lips to the boy’s once more. Jisung wrapped his arms around the girl’s waist as he lifted her into the air. The action making the girl giggle against his lips. Placing her feet back on the floor, Jisung grabbed her hands.

“I want you to be mine” Jisung confessed. Haley looked up into his eyes sadly as she lifted her hand to his cheek.

“I know, I do too Ji, but we can’t” Haley responded, heart breaking as she watched the smile slip from his face, “You’re an idol. You live across the world, I wouldn’t be able to handle the distance.”

Jisung felt like everything was slipping through his fingers. He’d just confessed and found out that the girl he loved, loved him back but now he couldn’t be with her. Still, he didn’t want this to be over, not when it hadn’t had the chance to even start.

“Wait for me” Jisung blurted out. Haley looked at him confused, “wait for you?”

“Wait for me. Wait until we can be together again. I’ll wait for you” Jisung tried to negotiate.

“Ji, I can’t ask you to do that for me” Haley replied.

“You don’t have to because I want to. I’m not letting you slip through my fingers before I even get the chance to have you Hal” Jisung tucked the loose hair behind her ears.

“Ji–” Jisung didn’t give her the chance to try and argue as he kissed her gently. Staying like that for a moment, Jisung then pulled away to caress her cheeks, “wait for me Hal.”

Haley wanted to say no, for his own sake, but as she looked into his hopeful eyes she couldn’t help herself as she replied, “okay.”

The two of them stood in the center of the room, smiling at one another just as a phone began to ring. Jisung reached inside his pocket, looking at the caller id to see that it was Chan calling him. Answering the call, he listened to his leader as he replied before ending the call.

“Chan needs me to come back soon. It’s late” Jisung mentioned, taking a look at the time to see that it was shortly after midnight.

“I’ll drop you off” Haley replied, grabbing her things while Jisung did the same. Back inside the car, Haley headed in the direction of the boys’ place with the help of Jisung’s guidance. The car ride was silent as Haley focused on driving while Jisung rested his hand against her thigh. As Haley parked in front of the building, Jisung reached into the back to grab his things before turning to the girl.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Hal” Jisung said, kissing her on her forehead before exiting the car. Haley waved him goodbye as she watched him enter the building then proceeded to drive back home. Back at the apartment, Alex had already gone to bed so Haley quietly retreated to her room, preparing for bed. She removed her makeup and changed into her pajamas then slipped into the bed. Her phone vibrated against the bedside table, signaling a notification. Opening it, she saw a message from Jisung. Smiling to herself, she replied before locking her phone and letting sleep take over.

*****

At exactly twelve pm, Alex knocked on Haley’s bedroom door, “Hal, you ready?” Not getting a reply, he slowly entered the room to find Haley sitting on the floor with her back against the bed.

“Hal” Alex said. Haley turned to look at him, Alex finally taking notice of the tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry kid.”

“Are they ready to go?” Haley asked, wiping her eyes as she stood. Alex nodded.

“They left about ten minutes ago, told us to meet them there.”

“Give me two minutes to clean myself up then we can go” Haley said, retreating to the bathroom as Alex waited by the front door. Haley looked in the mirror, sighing at her reflection. She didn’t get any sleep last night, only being able to think about the boys leaving today, resulting in bags under her eyes. Along with her previous crying episode, she looked miserable. Hoping that a little concealer would make her look more alive, she threw some on before meeting Alex. Neither of them spoke during the car ride to the airport. Chan had texted Alex to notify him that they were waiting by their gate. Getting through security, Haley and Alex headed towards the gate. Jeongin was the first to notice them, all the other boys slowly finding them in the crowd as they got closer.

“Thanks for coming guys” Chan said.

“It sucks but we wanted to be here before you left” Alex said sadly. Haley hadn’t spoken, only looking at the ground.

“Haley?” Seungmin said. The girl looked up at him, tears welling up in her eyes. “Haley” Hyunjin softly said. Just as the first tear fell, Hyunjin pulled her into his embrace, letting the girl quietly cry into his shoulder. The boys’ hearts ached as they watched her body shaking with sobs. Hyunjin rubbed his hands along her back for comfort, “We’ll see each other again. We promise.”

Haley’s tears had begun to slow down as she pulled away to look at them, “it won’t be the same without you.” If they could, they’d stay in a heartbeat, not wanting to leave Alex and Haley.

“I know but we can always facetime and we’ll try to visit as soon as we can” Felix responded.

“Promise?” Haley asked hopefully. “Promise” the boys replied in unison.

*****

For the next hour, Haley and the boys sat by the gate talking, waiting for their flight to be called. They talked about their favorite memories over the past 2 weeks. They talked about plans for the next time they visited. Even talking about Alex and Haley possibly visiting them. No one wanted the moment to end.

“I’ll never get over Haley’s face when she saw us in the apartment for the first time” Minho teased, the girl covered her face in embarrassment as she recalled the memory.

“Don’t forget when Haley scared Alex” Felix added, Alex hitting him on the shoulder as he rolled his eyes. “Moving on” Alex grumbled.

_Flight 0325 to Seoul may now begin the boarding process._

No one made a move as they looked at each other. Chan sighed, before standing from his spot.

“It’s time” Chan announced, the rest of the boys frowned before rising from their seats as well.

“Thank you for everything. It really won’t feel the same without you guys around” Alex stated, giving each of the guys’ a hug. When it came to Haley, the boys hugged her as tightly as possible. Haley had held her tears in with all of the boys, that is, until the last boy walked up to her.

“Hal”

“Ji” Haley whispered. She tried her best to hold it all together until after they were gone, but when Jisung wrapped his arms around the girl’s waist, she fell apart. Haley could feel her shoulder become wet as a single tear fell from Jisung’s eyes.

“I’ll miss you” Haley whispered into his ear. Jisung held her tighter as he whispered back, “I’ll miss you more.” As they parted, the boys grabbed their bags as they walked towards the gate. The boys were getting their tickets scanned just as Haley froze. This may be the last time she sees him. Haley turned around just in time, the boys were almost through the gate.

“JISUNG” Haley yelled. The boy turned around the see Haley running. She threw her arms around his neck as she slammed her lips against his. Jisung dropped his bags as he held Haley’s head in his hands. Wanting to savour the moment for as long as possible, they eventually pulled back to catch their breath. Resting their foreheads together, Haley couldn’t stop the tears anymore.

“I love you” Haley sobbed. Jisung ran hand thumb across her cheek to stop the tears from falling before kissing her forehead. “I love you more” he replied, kissing her lips one last time before pulling away. Haley watched him grab his bags from the ground, glancing up at the boys who had watched their interaction the whole time with shocked eyes. Catching her eyes, they smiled one last time before disappearing through the gate. Jisung was the last to leave as he winked at the girl, making her smile sadly.

And then they were gone.

Haley turned to her brother, who had also been watching the interaction, as she saw tears in his eyes too. This was going to be hard on both of them. She loved her brother very much but they both knew that the apartment would just feel empty now.

“Let’s go home” Alex said, wrapping his arm around Haley’s shoulder as they exited the airport and headed home.

*****

_5:40pm_

A movie had been playing on the TV as Alex and Haley sat on the couch, staring at it absentmindedly. They hadn’t moved from their spots since they’d gotten home from the airport. The boys had a long flight ahead of them, fifteen hours to be exact, so there was no telling when Haley or Alex would hear from them. They’d hoped the movie would serve as a distraction but they were wrong. Haley couldn’t stop thinking about the boys, especially Jisung. It felt like she was missing a part of herself. It’d only been two weeks but so much had happened. She would’ve never guessed that she’d end up making new friends, much less falling in love. She used to think how impossible it was to fall for someone in such a short amount of time, but here she was, moping over the boy’s absence. If only they’d had more time.

“Alex?” Her brother turned away from the movie to look at her, “can we talk?”

*****

“Are you sure?” Alex asked, somewhat surprised.

Haley just nodded in response as Alex left the room to make a call. Haley grabbed her phone, sending a text before laying her head back to stare at the ceiling.

_One day Ji._


	20. Epilogue

_Word count: 844_

_7 Months Later_

“Alex, get off your ass and grab a box” Haley groaned as her and Jeongin carried the table into the kitchen. Alex sat on the counter eating a bag of chips, groaning when Haley snatched them away. Glaring at the boy, Haley watched as Alex helped Felix carry boxes into the bedrooms.

Taking a short break, everyone sat around the kitchen eating a snack. “How’s Jisung?” Alex asked.

“He’s been in the studio writing nonstop for 3 days” Minho informed them. Haley sighed. She hated when the boy overworked himself like this. She tried to talk to him about it but he always ignored her help. The group got back to work, hoping they’d be finished within the next hour or two. Haley, Woojin and Seungmin had begun to put things together and the others finished bringing in the rest of the stuff.

About three hours later, they’d finally finished as everyone collapsed on the couches. Chan’s phone vibrated, signaling a message. He responded before putting his phone away.

Attention back on the group, “Jisung’s on the way” he announced. At the mention of his name, Haley perked up in excitement, running to her room to make herself more presentable. She brushed her hair, throwing it into a ponytail before changing into some fresh clothes. By the time she’d finished, she heard a knock on the front door. Running as fast as she could into the living room, she flopped next to Changbin on the couch, trying to be as casual as possible while fiddling with the necklace that remained around her neck. Chan left the room to let Jisung inside while everyone remained in the living room. They could hear Chan greet Jisung as they walked back into the living room. Chan appeared first, Jisung right behind him. _Why is everyone staring?_, Jisung thought as he looked around.

“What are–” Jisung had begun to say but quickly stopped as he caught someone’s eyes.

“Surprise bitch” Alex and Haley broke out into a grin.

“Haley” Jisung breathed. Haley stood from her spot, slowly moving closer to the boy. “It’s really you” Jisung said in disbelief.

“It’s really me” Haley smiled.

“What are you doing here?” Jisung asked in confusion.

“Well if you haven’t already noticed, I kinda live here now” Haley giggled before stepping to the side. Jisung stared at her for a moment before taking a look around the room. It was no doubt that this was their place and he recognized a lot of their things.

“When–”

“The guys were helping us move in today” Haley replied. Jisung looked at his members.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Jisung asked, slightly upset.

“They wanted to surprise you” Woojin informed. Jisung turned back to Haley.

“Why did you move?” Jisung asked, excited by still confused.

“I may or may not have pulled some strings for them” Chan mentioned.

“Chan helped us find this place. Alex is going to keep making his videos and I’m going to be teaching dance classes at the studio down the street from JYP” Haley stated excitedly before adding, “it’s up to you guys to help us learn Korean.”

“So this is really happening?” Jisung asked.

“It is Ji” Haley smiled at the boy in front of her.

“Does this mean…?” Jisung asked, lifting his hands to rest on the girl’s cheeks.

“I’m yours” Haley confirmed, grabbing hold of his shirt and pulling him to her. After seven long months, Haley felt like she could cry after feeling his lips against hers again. She’d been waiting for this moment ever since the boys had returned back home. The same day that she revealed to Alex that she was ready to move. The moment the words left her mouth, Alex’s jaw dropped in surprise. However, it was a very mutual decision after talking it over with Chan. Both Haley and Alex had wanted to move for a while but never had the motivation to do so. Now with the boys in their lives, they found their motivation. Jisung was the first to pull away.

“I love you” Jisung announced, eyes filled with so much joy.

“I love you most” Haley replied looking deep into his eyes, arms wrapping around his waist. The couple continued to gaze at one another, that is, until someone coughed.

“You do know we’re still here, right?” Minho stated. Haley rolled her eyes, ready to give the boy a smart remark until Felix interrupted her.

“Oh, let them have their moment” Felix laughed, leaning his head on Alex’s shoulder. Haley smiled at the two of them.

“Now that you’re officially moved in, what do you want to do now?” Chan asked to anyone.

Haley thought for a moment before an idea popped into her head. Over the seven months that the boys had been gone, they’d released _Double Knot_ and Haley had been waiting to learn it. Jisung had a feeling he knew what she would say before she even opened her mouth. Glancing at the boys, she grinned, “Let’s go to the studio.”


	21. Secrets (bonus)

_Word count: 1273_

“Okay your turn” Haley blurted out. Alex turned to look at the girl in confusion. They were having their weekly movie night in the new apartment when the girl spoke up suddenly.

“Elaborate” Alex requested. Haley turned away from the movie to look at him. Bringing her legs up, she tucked her chin on her knees.

“Well, Jisung and I are together now. So it’s yours and Felix’s turn” Haley stated, making her brother go wide-eyed.

“How did—What are—I don’t know what you’re talking about” Alex rambled anxiously. Haley gave the boy an ‘_are you kidding me look_’.

Alex sighed, “Is it that obvious?” Haley nodded. “But he doesn’t like me like that” Alex muttered.

“That’s exactly what I thought about Jisung and look at me now” Haley stated before continuing, “you’d have to be stupid to not see how much the boy likes you.” Haley saw the confusion on his face before groaning, “okay I guess you’re stupid then.”

“I am NOT” Alex said in defense.

Haley threw her hands up, “All I’m saying is, Felix obviously likes you and you like him. You’re both just oblivious to everything.”

“How are you so sure about this?” Alex asked, slightly hopefully. Haley bursted into laughter.

“You do realize who I’m dating right? That boy can’t keep anything secret” Haley giggled. Alex raised a brow at the girl, prompting her to spill information.

“Yes I’ve heard things but it’s not my place to say” Haley shrugged her shoulders. Alex was at a loss. He had no idea what to say, what to do, or how to do it. All he knew was that he needed the one person he trusted most.

“Will you help me?” Alex asked his sister with hopeful eyes. Haley just smiled in response.

“I was hoping you’d ask. Here’s the plan”

*****

“Where is everyone?” Felix asked Chan and Changbin, who sat huddled around their laptops working on their next album.

“Hyunjin and Minho went to the studio, Jisung is with Haley, and the others went out to eat” Chan replied without looking up from his computer. Felix sighed. He had made plans to hang out with one of the guys but they’d had other intentions.

“Haley told me that Alex was at home if you wanted to hang out with him” Chan added. Felix perked up immediately. Searching through his bag, he found his phone before opening up his messages.

Felix shouted a goodbye to the remaining guys in the dorm before walking to his favorite noodle shop. Luckily for everyone, Chan helped Alex and Haley find an apartment that was only a ten minute walk from the dorms, the noodle shop directly in the middle. Once Felix arrived, he realized he didn’t know what Alex would like. Of course, instead of asking the boy, he thought it would be a better idea to order a little bit of everything. After waiting patiently for the food the be prepared, he set out on his way to Alex’s apartment. Walking up two flights of stairs, Felix arrived in front of the door. With two hands full of food, he kicked at the door to signal his arrival. He heard the faint sound of footsteps approaching before the door was swung open.

“Hey Fe—what’s all that?” Alex asked, confusion etched on his face at the amount of stuff Felix held.

“Food. Now help” Felix shoved bags towards the boy, no longer struggling to carry them as he followed Alex into the apartment. They placed the bags on the kitchen counter, unpacking multiple boxes.

“Why did you get so much?” Alex wondered.

“I didn’t know what you’d like so I just ordered it all” Felix stated like it wasn’t a big deal. Alex couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ll pretty much eat anything but thank you” Alex replied. Felix smiled before offering the carton of fried chicken to him. They ate in comfortable silence and after thirty minutes, every bit of the food had been eaten. A food coma was calling the both of them. Alex clapped his hands together before playfully narrowing his eyes at Felix.

“I think you owe me a rematch” Alex declared. He walked into the living room to set up the game, Felix following behind him.

“You’re just wasting your time” Felix smirked, an idea popping into his head, “let’s make this a little interesting.” Alex quirked a brow at him, waiting for the boy to continue as he handed him the other controller. “Loser has to tell a secret” Felix announced.

_Hahahaha whAT_

“A secret?” Alex nervously asked.

“Yeah. What? You scared you might lose?” Felix snickered.

“What? No!” Alex stammered, “let’s play now.” Starting the match, the two boys competed against one another. Alex refused to lose after the outcome from the last time they played. But. What if this was his chance? What if he told Felix how he felt? Would he really lose on purpose just for this? Alex couldn’t help but worry if it was worth it. What if Felix didn’t like him back? What if he ruined their friendship? What if—_oh fuck it_.

Alex eased up on his attacks, letting Felix kick him off the map. He wasn’t ignorant, he knew that Alex let him win but why? He didn’t want to press on it yet, instead, grinning mischievously at the boy.

“We made a deal. Spill” Felix urged. Bouncing in his seat, he immediately stilled the moment the words spilled from Alex’s lips.

“I have feelings for you” Alex hung his head to avoid eye contact. Embarrassment filled his body as he waited in anticipation.

“Come again?” Felix finally spoke up, shock evident across his face. Alex internally groaned.

“Please don’t make me say it again” Alex pleaded.

“I want you to say it again. I have to make sure K heard you right” Felix encouraged, hope filled his voice. Alex lifted his head to look at the boy.

“I have feelings for you Felix” Alex whispered. At that, the biggest grin appeared on Felix’s face as he launched himself onto the boy.

“So I DID hear you right” Felix shouted in joy before planting his lips on Alex’s. Eyes blown wide in shock, Alex remained frozen for a moment before finally melting into the kiss. Felix smiled against the boy’s lips when he felt him return the kiss. When they pulled apart, Felix placed his hands against Alex’s cheeks.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” Felix said happily. Alex wrapped his arms around the boy, waiting for him to answer his own question. “Ever since you contacted us for the video, I ended up binge watching all your stuff. Needless to say, I developed the biggest crush on you after we met” Felix confessed, a slight tint to his cheeks.

“Trust me, the feeling was always mutual” Alex softly smiled. Felix groaned in response.

“So you’re telling me we wasted all this time and could’ve been together sooner?” Felix pouted.

“So we’re together now?” Alex wiggled his eyebrows at Felix who winked in response.

“Yes. Yes we are” Felix smirked. Alex just laughed as he hugged him tighter.

“Stay with me tonight?” Alex offered.

“I’m glad you asked because I had no intentions of leaving this couch tonight” Felix announced, snuggling further into Alex’s chest.

“Fine by me” Alex responded, overwhelmed with happiness. He grabbed his phone to message Haley.

Alex locked his phone and placed it on the table next to him. Hugging the sleeping boy closer to him, he kissed the top of Felix’s head before closing his eyes and sighing in content.

_This is home._


	22. Ho-Ho-Hold Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This writing is in relation to “Surprise Bitch” but it is not a part of the series. Enjoy ♡

_Word count: 1.4k_

“Move it a little further to the left” Haley suggested, watching as Alex adjusted the Christmas tree. Taking a step back, she nodded her head in approval, “Perfect.” Haley began to adjust a few of the branches as a knock sounded from the front door.

“I’ll get it” Alex announced. Soon after, loud voices filled the apartment as they joined Haley in the living room.

“Haley!!” Jeongin shouted in excitement. Haley turned her head to the boys and smiled warmly.

“Hi guys, thanks for coming to help.”

“Of course. Anything for our two favorite people” Chan grinned, ruffling her hair. Haley laughed, pushing him away in a playful manner.

“So what can we help with?” Woojin asked Haley. She glanced around the room at all the decorations spread out.

“Um…everything” Haley giggled, “I’m going to work on the Christmas tree if you guys want to start the other stuff. Feel free to do it however you’d like, we’re not picky.”

“Alex and I can hang the garland” Felix offered.

“Seungmin, Changbin and I can hang the lights” Woojin added.

“We can do the rest” Chan said, motioning towards Minho, Hyunjin and Jeongin. Haley nodded in agreement, watching as everyone split up to decorate hers and Alex’s apartment.

Turning back towards the tree, Haley felt arms snake around her waist as Jisung placed his head on her shoulder.

“I guess that leaves me with you.” Haley could see the smile on Jisung’s face out of the corner of her eye. Turning in his arms, Haley wrapped her arms around his shoulders, standing on the tip of her toes to place a small kiss to his nose.

“Yes it does” Haley grinned before pulling away, “now get to work.” Jisung just shook his head and laughed. He watched in amusement as you stared back and forth between the tree and the ornaments spread out around you, trying to decide where to start.

“How about I hand them to you and you hang them?” Jisung suggested. Haley agreed, watching as Jisung grabbed one of the silver balls, handing it to her. Taking it from his hand, she hung it on the tree and waited for the next. The two of them fell into a peaceful rhythm as they continued to decorate. Jisung held one last ornament in his hands as he looked at Haley in confusion.

“What’s this?”

“That’s our tree topper” she said as Jisung tried to hand it to her but she shook her head, “that’s Alex’s job.” And not even a second later, the boy entered the room.

“I heard my name” Alex said. Haley grabbed the topper from Jisung’s hand and held it out for Alex to see, immediately smiling. He walked over towards them, grabbing the topper out of his hands as Jisung called the rest of the boys to come. Filing in one by one, everyone stood around the living room, looking at Haley and Alex.

“Is there a reason why you called us?” Minho wondered out loud.

“They’re putting the tree topper on. The moment felt special” Jisung shrugged his shoulders as everyone laughed before watching anyway. Putting the topper on was never a huge deal, just something fun they did and continued to do each year. Alex grabbed a chair, putting it next to the tree as he stood in the seat to be able to reach the top of the tree. Careful not to knock it over, Alex gently placed the star on top before getting down off the chair and standing back to look at the decoration. A moment later, Felix burst into a fit of giggles.

“_Hold up_, is that the star from Super Mario?” Felix said in between laughter. Haley and Alex shared a bright smile before nodding.

“Are you even surprised? I mean, it IS me and Alex” Haley smirked at the boys, Alex playfully nudging her side.

“I guess not.” Amused, Felix shook his head before glancing over the tree, “It looks really good. You and Jisung did a great job.”

Jisung held his hands up in defense, “This was all Haley’s doing. I just handed her stuff.” Haley walked over to the boy, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind.

“Not true. You helped me choose where to put them” Haley smiled up at the boy as he looked over his shoulder at her. She placed a quick kiss to his shoulder before leaning her head against it, “Are you guys done decorating too?” She was met with several sheepish looks as she quirked a brow at them.

“We finished an hour ago and may or may not have raided your kitchen” Chan confessed.

“You better not have touched my pretzels” Haley narrowed her eyes at them.

“Hyunjin tried to” Alex announced as Haley glared at the culprit, causing Hyunjin to cower before Alex continued, “BUT I took them and hid them before anyone could eat them.”

At that, Haley sighed in relief before quickly narrowing her eyes once more, “My pretzels.” The boys just laughed nervously.

“We’ll restock everything we ate” Chan promised.

“Which was everything” Seungmin added, Haley just rolled her eyes before pulling away from Jisung.

“Now that the decorating is done, there’s only one thing left to do today” Haley stated. Everyone just looked at her in confusion, waiting for her to continue. Haley ran over to the bookshelf next to the TV, fumbling through it before finding what she wanted. Turning around, she held it up for the boys to see, Alex groaning immediately.

“Do we really have to watch that every fucking year?” Alex grumbled, making Haley pout at her brother.

“Yes, in fact we do. It’s tradition” Haley stated. Turning to the boys, she asked, “Have y’all seen this?”, holding up _How The Grinch Stole Christmas_. Each of the boys nodded enthusiastically, Haley turning to Alex and smirking.

“I think you’re outnumbered here” Haley announced as Alex rolled his eyes. He turned to leave the room before Haley quickly grabbed his arm.

“Will you watch it if I make hot chocolate?” Haley offered. Alex slowly turned to look at her.

“With extra marshmallows?” Alex asked. Haley giggled at his hopeful face.

“With extra marshmallows” she confirmed, “Do you boys want some too?”

Immediately nine heads nodded along. “Okay, I’ll go make it while you guys get the movie ready.” Turning to head into the kitchen, Jisung stopped her.

“Do you want some help?” he asked but she shook her head.

“I got it, thank you though” Haley told him, a sad look appeared on his face as she added with a grin “can’t have you finding out the secret recipe now can we?” Jisung cocked a brow at her as she shooed him out of the kitchen. Preparing the drinks carefully, she made sure to add extra marshmallows to Alex’s drink before placing the mugs on the tray. Haley grabbed the tray, carrying it into the living room for the boys.

“Order up” she announced, catching all the boys’ attention.

“Do you need help?” Hyunjin asked as Haley deadpanned at him.

“Did you forget that I used to be a waitress?” Hyunjin’s mouth formed an ‘_O_’ as she giggled at his reaction. Placing the tray on the coffee table, Haley passed out the hot mugs, making sure to hand Alex his special request first. Once everyone had their drinks, they sipped it, careful not to burn themselves.

“I really don’t understand how you manage to make the best hot chocolate” Alex sighed in satisfaction. Haley shrugged her shoulders as she sipped her own drink. Sitting next to Jisung, she curled into his side, hot chocolate in hand.

Several thank yous were thrown her away as she smiled at them. “Movie time.”

Woojin pressed play on the movie as everyone settled comfortably in their seats.

“You never told us why you hated this movie so much” Felix turned to his boyfriend with a questionable look.

“You’ll see” Alex rolled his eyes. Everyone turned back towards the TV, slightly confused at Alex’s words before watching the movie.

And as soon as the first scene began, Alex groaned as Haley began to quote the movie word for word. “_Every fucking time_” Alex mumbled under his breath. Everyone just laughed in amusement at the two siblings before continuing to watch the movie, snuggled up with one another and Haley’s commentary on the side.


End file.
